Anything can be Real
by Dart Black
Summary: The TMNT boys have the ability to change back and forth between human and turtles because of the ooze. This story is about their adventures in high school. I'm working on this for my sister Pearl and yes, I changed the title! Please tell me what you think
1. Chapter 1

Chapter 1

"Hurry up, we're gonna be late!!" Mikey yelled from the back seat. "Donny…step on it!!" Mikey shook the back of Don's seat.

"Mikey, we wouldn't have to hurry and risk being late if you would get ready instead of playing video games." Don looked over his shoulder as he passed a car.

"I had to beat that level!! Now go faster!" Mikey punched the seat next to him. "Raph's probably already there!"

"That's because he's lucky enough to have his own motorcycle." Leo said as he turned to face Don, "that's running."

"Leo, I'm trying to fix it as fast as I can, but Master Splinter asked me to fix the cameras in the warehouse and Raph wants me to try and build him a robot that will spar with him."

Leo sighed as he looked out the window. He wished Don would finish his bike so he wouldn't have to listen to Don and Mikey bicker. He didn't like being late to school either. Mikey always ran late in the mornings. He rolled down the window to feel the wind blow through his waist length black hair. He didn't have it tied back like it usually was. As they pulled into the school parking lot, Leo noticed Raph's bike parked by the entrance. Don parked the car and Don and Leo got out. A huge gust of wind rushed past them, blowing a few papers out of Don's hands.

"It looks like it'll rain tonight. Leo, are we still up for the training tonight?" Don scrambled to pick up his papers.

"Don, you should know that our training doesn't stop for anything. C'mon Mikey, you were the one complaining about being late." Leo slung his pack over his shoulder.

"Right!" Mikey, as he was trying to pull his pack out of the back of Don's car, tripped. He cut his toe on the curb. "Oww! Stupid slab of cement!" Mikey dropped his bag and bent down to hold his bleeding toe.

"You know Mikey, one of these days you're gonna be in real trouble for not wearin' shoes to school." Raph walked up and nudged Mikey in the ribs with his toe.

"Raph, why do you always have to dress like a punk?" Don had finally, with help from Leo, caught all his papers.

"I'm not dressed like a punk!" Raph made fists and stepped towards Don. Leo noticed Raph was in a fighting mood today.

"Hey! Raph, not now. We need to get to 1st period before we're late." Leo, who had stepped between Don and Raph, moved over to Mikey. He bent down and pick up Mikey's bag. Before Leo could say anything, Mikey grabbed it and ran off yelling that he was gonna be late.

"As long as you two aren't late, you can argue all you want." Leo followed after Mikey.

"Don, I don't dress like a punk." Raph started up the argument again as they began to walk towards the school.

"Really? So three different belts, torn jeans, long, shaggy, unkempt red hair and a snake tattoo aren't punk? So I'll just assume that five earrings aren't punk either."

"Right. Donny, you know that they're just clothes right? We just wear them as humans, plus, I just wanted to look different then the rest of you."

"Raph, you passed up different a long time ago."

"Don, I'm gonna—" Raph made fists again

"Did you finish the paper for English?" Asked Don, changing the subject. "It's due today."

"Shell!" Raph looked at Don with pleading eyes. "Don, Donny! My favorite turtle!"

"No." Don opened the door and walked through ignoring the 'Jones' Fan Club' members standing just inside the door.

"Can I take a peek at your paper Donny? Please?" Raph pushed someone out of the way so he could keep walking by Don.

"Sorry, I'm afraid I can't help you Raph."

"C'mon Donny! You gotta help me out here." Raph moved to block Don's entrance into first period.

"Well, if you hadn't been out with Casey all night playing vigilante again, you would have been able to finish your paper."

"Finish it? I didn't even start it!"

"Alright!! Fine, I'll give you five minutes to look at it…right before English." Don pushed past Raph and into the classroom.

"Ah man, Donny, that's not fair!" Raph would have continued to argue, but the bell rang and they had to take their seats. Don sat next to Leo in the front while Raph and Mikey sat next to each other in the back.

"So glad you could make it here today," Mr. Fulmer, the math teacher, had a very monotone voice that could make even Don sleepy. "Now that class changes are over, let's make sure you're all in the right class. Cox, Jessica?"

"Here"

"Crane, Brandon?"

"Here"

Mr. Fulmer went on like this for about ten more people when his face became flustered. "Again…?" He muttered "Jones, Donatello?"

"Present!" Don raised his hand

"Jones, Leonardo?"

"Here"

"Jones, Michelangelo?"

"Dude!" Mikey made a 'rock on' sign and a girl with white hair laughed.

"Jones, Raphael?"

"Yo" Raph gave the teacher a small nod.

"I take it that all four of you are brothers?" Mr. Fulmer studied each face.

"How could you tell?" Raph asked sarcastically as he leaned back in his chair.

"Are you taking a tone with me uh...Raphael?"

"What'll you do if I say 'yes'?"

"Principle's office! Now!" Mr. Fulmer pointed to the door, his face red. Raph stood up and gave Mikey a high five as he passed. "Class, today, I want you to do problems 1-40 on page 15 in your math books. I'll be back soon." Mr. Fulmer followed Raph out the door.

"So I take it that Casey said it was okay to use his last name again this year." Leo said as he took out his math book.

"Well, Casey doesn't know about the whole 'guardian' thing, but April knows." Don was already on problem sixteen.

"Casey's going to find out real soon."

"Don! What's the answers to numbers one through forty?" Mikey yelled from across the room as he stood up.

"Mikey, do your own work or you'll never learn how."

"But Donny, my head hurts! It's too early in the morning to do math!"

"Mikey, I draw your attention to the fact that you were up until three this morning playing video games. If you had gone to bed, you would be awake enough to do this assignment." Don never even glanced up throughout this entire conversation. The girl in front of Don turned around.

"Are you the oldest?" she asked.

"Excuse me?" Don still didn't look up.

"The oldest brother?"

"No, Leonardo's the oldest. I'm next in line."

"Oh, who's the youngest then?" She asked.

"The one over there." Don pointed to Mikey.

"Who?"

"The one with long, shaggy blond hair, prefect tan and deep brown eyes." Don still hadn't looked up.

"Gosh Don, is he your brother or your girlfriend?" Leo asked, a smirk on his face.

"Leo, I'm talking 'blond' so that she can see who I'm talking about."

"I'm sorry, I can't see him." The girl was looking around the classroom.

"Mikey, if you stand up, Don will give you the first five answers!" Leo stood up and yelled across the room.

"Really?" Mikey instantly stood up with a hopeful look on his face.

"No." Don looked over at Mikey. "Sit down before you fall down. Leo I won't give him any answers. By the way, that gullible fool is Michelangelo." Don went back to doing his assignment.

"Don, Leo said you'd give me the answers to the first five questions. Please?" Mikey had come up to beg by Don's desk.

"Donny, give him the answers so he'll go away." Leo pulled out a piece of paper and began to do his own assignment.

"Alright, .5; 16%; 3/7; and 2,673." Don sighed as he read off the answers.

"Thanks bro!" Mikey ran off to his desk to write them down, only, he forgot them. "Donny, what were they again?" he yelled from across the room.

"Mikey…" Don whispered the said the answers louder. "12; .5; 3/7; 2,673 and 16%."

"Cool! Thanks!" Mikey sat back down, filled in the answers, put his head on his desk and was soon asleep.

"Donny, you're cruel. Those aren't even close to the right answers." Leo shook his head.

"I know, I told him I wouldn't give him the answers and he would have to do it on his own. Besides, he'll talk me into giving him the answers later tonight anyway." Don finished his assignment and pulled out his laptop.

"Don, how can you do that so fast?" Leo was staring at his brother's face. Don had light blue eyes and shoulder length wavy brown hair. He always dressed nice with a collared shirt and un-torn jeans. He also had an insanely huge book with him most of the time. Today, it was Real or Rumor: Mythical Creatures of the 21st Century. Leo already knew that Don was a genius, but getting a forty-question assignment done in less then twenty minutes? It was insane!

"Class! Be quiet now. Come on, let's get to work now!" Mr. Fulmer had walked back into the room…without Raph. "Where were we? Ah, here we are: Orphen, Serenity?"

"Yeah and it's just Cerina."

"Alright, Orphen, Pearl?"

"Me!" the girl with white hair raised her hand.

"I'm tired of calling roll out loud. If I didn't call your name, come up to the front and tell me that you're here. If you don't I'll mark you as truant." Mr. Fulmer sat behind his desk as a line of students formed. Once all of them had said their names, Don raised his hand.

"Mr. Fulmer?"

"Yes Donatello?"

"Where's my brother, Raphael?"

"I called your guardian Casey and the three of us had a nice little chat. Your guardian said he would like to teach Raphael a lesson about respect, so Casey checked him out. Now, put that laptop away and get back to work."

"But I've already finished the assignment Mr. Fulmer."

"Tha-that's impossible. No one could finish that long of an assignment in half an hour."

"But I have. It was really quiet easy."

"Mr. Fulmer, you'll find that Donatello is quiet the prodigy." Leo slapped Don's back. "Isn't that right Mr. Genius?"

"Leo, I'm not that good."

"C'mon, Donny, you could build a laptop with scrap metal and used wires. You're amazing!" Mikey leaned back in his chair…a little to far and he fell off. "I'm okay." He quickly got up as the girl with long white hair started laughing again.

"Mikey…" Don sighed and went back to surfing the Internet on his laptop. Leo continued to do his assignment while Mikey shoved his math book away and pulled out a comic book. A while later, the bell rang for class to be over. The three brothers headed off to English. When class started, Mikey noticed the same girl from before, the one with white hair, was sitting in front of him. He couldn't stop staring at her. A few times he glanced off to Leo, who was staring at another girl. One with waist length black hair. Don couldn't help but think that his two brothers were falling in love. The bell rang for lunch to start.

Leo, Mikey, and Don pushed past the blocked off entrance into an old marble courtyard. There was an ivy-covered walkway off to the right and an old empty pond to the left. There were broken marble statues of angles, cupids, and beautiful women. Everything was over grown and the ivy was climbing up the sides of the school and covering the second story windows. This was the boys' favorite spot to come even though students weren't allowed in here. The reason why it is blocked off is unclear. Some people say it was because a student was murdered in here, others say that it was because the principle was dumped by his girlfriend here. Even the janitors stopped coming in to care for the plants. But they loved it here anyway; it was always really quiet because the noises of New York couldn't pass through the school. And, on a smog free day, the sun lit the place up with brilliance.

Mikey stretched out on a bench with his eyes closed and Leo sat cross-legged on the ground. Don pulled out his laptop and set it on the retaining wall of a flowerbed. Leo took a deep breath in and began to meditate.

"Leo, how can you meditate when we know Raph and Casey are probably off getting into trouble somewhere?" Don said as he turned on his laptop.

"Easy, he'll call if he needs us. Or April will call looking for Casey." Leo opened one eye to look at Don. "The shell cell is on right?"

"Of course it is Leo; I'm not as stupid as Mikey."

"Hey, I heard that!" Mikey was almost asleep…again.

"Mikey, you hear everything. You just can't understand everything." Don was typing away on the laptop.

"Don!" Mikey sat up ready to argue when he noticed two girls pushing their way through the blocked entryway. Without looking at the boys, these girls walked across the courtyard and over to a bench by a tree that was facing the ivy covered walkway. This didn't make sense to Mikey. No one ever came in here except him and his brothers. And the occasional fan girl. Apart from math and English today, he'd never seen these girls before. He leaned over to Don.

"Donny, do you know who they are?" Mikey whispered as he pointed at the girls.

"Yes Mikey. They are in every one of our classes today. I think they are sisters."

"They are." Leo stopped meditating to look at the girls. "Their names are Cerina and Pearl Orphen."

"I thought……never mind……" Mikey laid back down on his side but he didn't close his eyes, he was staring at the girl with white hair. From behind—that was the only side of her he'd really seen—her waist length hair shimmered, the sun reflecting off of it in many colors. Just like a pearl. That was probably her name too—Pearl. He thought she was beautiful.

Leo; however, was watching the girl with the layered black hair—Cerina. In the sunlight, it almost looked as if she had dark midnight blue streaks in her hair. Earlier, when he had seen her bright blue eyes, he thought he sensed great honor coming from them. Both Mikey and Leo were entranced by these girls. Leo glanced at Mikey who caught his eye. They were going to get these girls' attention.

"Are they still staring at us?" Pearl asked her sister.

"I think they are, but I'm not complaining. They're hot." Cerina tilted her head slightly to look back at Leo, Don, and Mikey.

"I like the surfer looking guy. The one with blond hair and no shoes." Pearl looked over her shoulder at Mikey.

"Personally, I like the one with deep green eyes and long black hair the best." Cerina looked back to her book as Pearl giggled. Pearl looked over her shoulder again. There was something about his deep brown eyes that she couldn't look away from. If she remembered right, his name was Michelangelo. As she was watching, he laid back down and began to sing, softly. Soon, the other with black hair joined in. As their song grew louder, the two girls realized they were singing in Japanese.

"I want to change the world,

Jounetsu tayasazu ni

Takanaru miraie te wo nobaseba, kagayakeru hazu sa

It's wonderland

Kimi no kokoro furuete'ta asu no mienai yo

Namimo shinjirarezu mimi wo fusagu

Kimi ni deaeta toki hontou no I basho mitsuketa

Nanigenai yasashisa ga koko ni atte

Bokura mezameru

I want to change the world

Nido to mayowanai kimi to iru mirai

Katachi doreba doko made mo toberu sa

Change my mind

Jonetsu tayasazu ni shiranai ashita e tsubasa hiroge hanabatakeru hazu sa

It's wonderland."

As Leo and Mikey's voices faded, Don shook his head and sighed. Leo and Mikey exchanged triumphant glances as Cerina turned around.

"Was that the opening song to Inu-Yasha?" she asked

"Yeah it is." Mikey said as he sat up again.

"Where did you learn it?" Pearl stood up and walked over to sit on a retaining wall in front of Mikey.

"We watch a lot of anime, my brothers and I." Leo stood up and joined Mikey on the bench. "It's sort of a pass time." Leo shook his head sadly as a few fan girls pushed their way into the courtyard. They were pointing at the three brothers and giggling. Cerina came over to sit by Pearl.

"I'm sorry. I don't mean to sound rude, but what are your names again? I know that I know them. I just can't remember them." As Cerina said this, the fan girls that had come into the courtyard, came running over.

"How can you ask such a question?" yelled the leader of the bunch.

"They are the most popular boys in school!" yelled another.

"Ladies! Please stop yelling at them." Don closed the top of his laptop and moved to stand next to Cerina and Pearl. "They just transferred here from across town. It's their first day here."

"Fine! We won't let them off so easily next time. I'm the president of the Jones' Fan Club and don't you forget it!" the leader of the bunch of girls then turned and left the courtyard.

"Hey, how did you know we transferred here?" Pearl asked Don looking confused.

"I didn't, I guessed. Since I haven't seen you here before and you have New Yorker accents, I put two and two together." Don went back to his laptop.

"Anyway, our names are simple. We're named after the great Renaissance Masters. I'm Leonardo, This is Donatello, that is Michelangelo and our other brother is Raphael. He's obviously not here right now." Leo stretched out then pulled his black hair back into a braid.

"What are your names?" Mikey asked as he rocked back and forth while balancing on the balls of his feet and noticing that Pearl's eyes where emerald green.

"I'm Pearl and this is Serenity."

"It's Cerina! I hate my full name." Cerina punched Pearl.

"Well—" Pearl began to talk but she was cut off by the bell. Mikey picked up his bag and winked at Pearl as he walked back into the building. Don put his laptop away and followed Mikey. Leo walked up to Cerina and took a few strands of her black hair and played with it for a minute.

"Cerina, don't let people push you or your sister around. Okay? I'll see you around." Leo turned and walked back into the building. Cerina looked at her sister and realized she was holding her breath.

"Now I see why they have a fan club." Cerina said as she picked up her bag and headed back into the school. "I can barely breathe! Leonardo…Pearl, I think I may be in love."

"Well, as soon as you get off cloud nine, check our schedule and see what class we have next." Pearl wouldn't tell her sister that Mikey's wink made her blush.

"Right," Cerina pulled the schedule out of her pack and looked at it for a moment. "We have history next. It's upstairs." They headed off towards their class.

"Holy shell! That girl was pretty!" Mikey leaned back in his chair again.

"Mikey focus. You asked me to help you and if you don't pay attention, I'll go over this with Leo instead." Don pushed Mikey's chair back down on the ground.

"How can I pay attention? I don't know anyone named attention."

"That's it," Don got up and walked over to Leo, who was humming another song and staring out the window. "Leo, Mikey's only thinking about that girl Pearl. Do you want help studying for the test?"

"What?" asked Leo, looking at Don.

"Oh, both of you are hopeless!" Don left Leo and took his seat in the front of the class. As he sat down, Cerina and Pearl walked in and Mikey fell off his chair again. He quickly stood up, fixed his chair and sat back down, hoping Pearl hadn't seen him. Cerina handed a paper to the teacher and apologized for being late. The teacher took the paper and pointed to the seat next to Leo for Cerina and the seat next to Mikey for Pearl. Pearl quickly walked to the back of the room and Mikey stood up and pulled out the seat for Pearl to sit down.

"I didn't know you had this class Pearl."

"I didn't either until three minutes ago. Thank you." She sat down.

"How are you today Michelangelo?"

"Please just call me Mikey. And I'm doing wonderful!" Mikey sat down and whispered: "now that you're here."

Pearl wasn't sure if she heard him right, but she blushed anyway. Cerina sat down next to Leo.

"Hey, Leonardo!"

"Hi Cerina, do you know that we have a test today?" he began to play with her hair again.

"No, it's our first day here. Will it be difficult?" she was trying to remember to breathe.

"Well, it's on a few things we've gone over in class last week. If you want, I'm sure Donny would help you get ready. We still have fifteen minutes to study."

"Um…sure."

"Don! Come here for moment."

"What is it Leo?" Don asked as he came over.

"Will you help Cerina study? She doesn't know any of the material we've gone over." Asked Leo.

"Sure, after I help Pearl."

"Don, why do you have to help her first?"

"Because Mikey doesn't know any of the material we've covered either."

"Good point."

"Why don't you help Cerina?" Don asked as he walked over to Pearl's desk. Leo and Cerina saw Pearl nod to Don's question as Mikey got up and came over to Leo's desk. He knelt down and whispered.

"Leo, Don's trying to steal my girl."

"Mikey, she's not your girl." Leo said with a sigh

"She wants to be." Cerina whispered.

"What was that?" asked Mikey

"Nothing I just said—" Cerina started but Leo cut her off.

"Shell, the teacher is standing up. Guess study time is over. You'll be fine. It's not a big part of your grade and it's should be easy."

"Oh, I'm not worried about me, I'm worried about Pearl." As Cerina was talking, Mikey and Don went back to their seats. "She gets distracted so easily and with what I've seen of your brother……well, lets just say that one person with A.D.D is bad, but two sitting next to each other…I feel bad for the people sitting around them." Leo laughed at Cerina's joke as they got their tests.

"Good luck." whispered Leo.

"thanks." Cerina began her test.

This was one of the hardest tests Pearl had ever taken in history. Even though Don went over a few things with her, she could only answer a few of the questions. She glanced at Mikey to see that he was almost done. 'There's no way he could be that smart!' Pearl thought 'I don't trust that smirk.' With that thought, she looked closer at his answers and saw him writing something like: In 1916 B.C. while I was walking through the jungle, some ninja stole my yak and then kidnapped Princess Pomegranate. Pearl had to hold her breath to keep from laughing out loud. At least she knew why he was almost done; she began to come up with her own creative answers.

The rest of the class was pretty much boring. Pearl and Mikey played 'Go Fish' under their desks, Don pulled out his laptop was doing 'research' while playing games on and Leo wouldn't stop playing with Cerina's hair. When the bell finally rang, it scared Pearl so bad that she screamed and threw her handful of cards into the air. Luckily, there were so many kids leaving that the teacher didn't see the cards.

"What class do you have next?" Leo asked as Pearl and Mikey came over, straitening their cards and arguing about who won.

"Um…choir." Cerina put her pack over her shoulder.

"I'll see you there then. I need to stop off at the office really quick. There's a student council meeting."

"Are you on the council?" asked Pearl.

"He's the president." Mikey was laughing as Leo sighed and left.

"Didn't you say you had choir next Mikey? Are we in all of your classes?" Pearl asked Mikey as she moved to the side to let Mikey lead the way to class.

"You're in all of them today. How could I know if you're in our classes tomorrow?" He asked as he almost ran into an open locker.

"I guess we'll find out when we get there, won't we Cerina?" Pearl was trying to not laugh again. As they walked down the stairs, Pearl and Cerina were getting very dirty looks from the fan girls.

"Oh, um…tomorrow, I know we have gym and study hall."

"What periods?" Mikey asked.

"Um…gym is 6th and I think study hall is 7th." Said Cerina as they stopped outside the choir room and looked in. Don was already sitting in the back of the middle of the classroom. "How does he get around so fast?"

"He's very sneaky." Leo said as he snuck up behind Cerina.

"GAH! Like you are?" she tried to slap his shoulder but he dodged. "You scared me half to death!"

"Sorry," Leo couldn't keep the smile off his face. "I couldn't help it. Oh, you can sit with us if you'd like. We don't have a seating chart. Do you see where Don's sitting? That's usually where we sit." Leo moved around Pearl to stay out of reach of Cerina. He sat on Don's left side. Mikey, Pearl and Cerina followed. Only, the girls were stopped by the fan club.

"What do you think you're doing?" asked Pearl, trying to push past them.

"You can't sit by them unless you're in the fan club and you're not." The 'president' folded her arms.

"Who would want to be in your stupid fan club anyway? I mean c'mon, no one could be that obsessed." These fan girls were pissing Cerina off.

"You two are the only girls in the entire female population of this school who aren't in the fan club." The 'president' took a step to the right to block Pearl who was trying to push past again. Cerina took a step forward and got right in the 'president's' face.

"Move it." She growled, ready to fight.

"Girls!" said Mikey coming over and putting his arms around the 'president' and another girl. "Give these two girls a break, they just moved in. besides…" he winked at Cerina and Pearl "me and my brothers think these girls are pretty awesome."

"R-r-really? But how do you know they don't just want to hurt you?" stammered the 'president'

"We just do." Mikey pushed past the girls and put his arms around Pearl and Cerina's waists. "Ladies, your seats." He led them over to their chairs. Cerina sitting by Leo and Pearl by Mikey…with Don sitting by Mikey to keep and eye on him. "What did you have to go to the office for?" Mikey whispered to Leo. "I know it wasn't for a meeting."

"I'll tell you later Mikey." Leo whispered back as the class began to sing. When the bell rang for the school day to end, Cerina and Pearl went to the front of the class to talk to the teacher and Mikey stretched back in his chair and yawned.

"Is the day over already?"

"You mean the day went by fast for you Mikey? That must be a first." Don stood and put his pack on.

"Well," Mikey looked at Pearl who had just laughed at something "I guess I gotta a new distraction."

Leo smiled and closed his eyes. He was thinking the same thing Mikey was. When he opened his eyes, he looked at Don. "Hey Donny, you're staying after right?"

"Yeah, the Science Club's got a meeting. And because I'm president, I have to go. I should only be an hour or so. Did you need something?"

"I was going to see if the girls need a ride home. If they do, I'm borrowing your car." Leo stood and pick up his bag and headed off towards the girls.

"Leo, keys." Don threw his keys to Leo who held out his hand and caught them easily.

"These are useful. Thanks Donny. I'll see you to night." Leo called after Don as he left.

"Later." And Don was gone.

Leo walked up behind Cerina and pulled her bag off her shoulder and slung it on his own. Mikey took Pearl's bag also and led her to the door. "Do you have a way home?" Leo asked as he held the door open for the girls.

"We were going to take a cab, but we don't have any money any more." Cerina said as she tried to get her bag back from Leo. She wasn't used to having a man be so kind to her, it made her feel self-conscious.

"We decided at lunch that we would walk home." Pearl also tried to get her bag back from Mikey. The two boys were having fun playing keep away.

"How far away do you live?" Mikey asked as he sidestepped Pearl's attempt at getting her bag back.

"Just a few blocks…" Cerina said as she walked out the back door that Mikey was holding open.

"Blocks!? We can't have two pretty girls like you walking a 'few blocks' in downtown New York!" Mikey slapped Cerina's hand away from Leo. "Leo did you get the keys?"

"Of course, right this way ladies." Leo led the way to Don's car. When they got there, Pearl ran her hand along the hood.

"What kind of car is this? I've never seen this kind before."

"We don't really know; Don made it." Leo opened the back passenger door for Cerina.

"Made it!?" Pearl looked at Leo, shock on her face. "How did he…?"

"I don't really know how, he took a bunch of new, old, and broken parts and put them all together." Mikey opened the door behind the driver's seat for Pearl.

"Broken?" Pearl gave Mikey a worried look.

"He fixed them first." Mikey got in the car…in the driver's seat. "Okay Leo, give me the keys."

"No Mikey. Get out of the car."

"Why?"

"You are NOT driving."

"But—"

"No, there is absolutely no way I am letting you drive."

"Leo…" Mikey gave Leo puppy-dog eyes.

"Out!"

"Leo, tell me why you won't let me drive?"

"Because you'll get us lost. You can't follow directions to save your life." Leo opened the driver's side door and held it open, waiting for Mikey to get out.

"But what about when we're training at ninj—" he stopped at a sever glare from Leo. "Fine!" Mikey got out of the car and slid over the hood to the passenger's side, making Pearl giggle.

Leo put all the bags in the trunk then walked to the front, got in the car and started it. "Where do you live?"

"Just turn right out of the parking lot."

"Alright." Leo backed out of the parking spot and turned right out of the parking lot. "Are you just going to tell me where to turn?" he looked at Cerina in the review mirror.

"Yes." Cerina had scooted over so she could see out the windshield.

"That's fine with me." Leo passed a taxi that was picking up an old man.

"See Leo, I could have driven." Mikey twisted in his seat so he could see Pearl.

"Mikey, which way is left?" Leo sounded as if he really didn't know.

"That way." Mikey pointed to his right, noticed he was pointing the wrong way, then pointed to the left. Pearl covered her mouth to keep from laughing. Cerina didn't hold back and burst out laughing.

"What does a yellow light mean?" Leo asked as he stopped for a red light.

"Speed up and look over your shoulder for cops."

"No, that's not what you do."

"It's what everyone else does. I mean—look!" Mikey pointed at a car that ran a red light.

"Leo, turn left up here." Cerina cut in.

"Everyone runs red lights!" Mikey pointed at another car as Leo pulled into the turning lane. As Leo began to turn, someone cut him off. He slammed on his brakes with quicker reflexes then normal.

"Tell me about it." He muttered as Cerina stared at the back of Leo's head. It had been awhile since she'd seen anyone besides Pearl and her Master with reflexes that fast. 'Maybe…no…' she dismissed the thought. 'Good ninja in New York besides me and Pearl? It's not possible.' She thought, still staring at Leo, she almost missed the building.

"You can stop right here. That's our building." She pointed out Leo's window.

"That's a really nice building. How high up are you?" Leo asked

"The very top." Replied Cerina as Leo parked in front of the building.

"The…top?" Mikey cracked his neck trying to look all the way up.

"Do you want us to walk you up?" Leo asked as he opened the door for Cerina. Once Mikey got out, he also opened the door for Pearl and they followed Leo to the trunk. Leo opened the trunk to get the girls' packs, being careful to hide his katanas, Mikey's nunchakus, Don's Bo staff, and Raph's sais. He didn't think it would be a good idea for Pearl and Cerina to see a bunch of strange weapons in the back of their car. He shut the trunk and walked up the main steps with Mikey, and the girls. Pearl plugged in her code and the opened the door. The four of them walked in the building. The lobby alone was huge and one of the workers gave Mikey a dirty look when he saw Mikey's bare feet. They headed off to the elevators. Cerina pushed the button and the waited a moment. When the doors opened, they waited for a few people to get off then they walked in.

"I wanna press the button!" Mikey started jumping up and down.

"Alright, it's this one." Pearl laughed as she pointed to the right button and Mikey pressed it.

"Mikey…" Leo wished Mikey wouldn't be so childish sometimes, but that was Mikey and there was no changing him. Leo leaned against the back wall next to Cerina. His hand brushed hers and she caught her breath. After a few moments, the elevator stopped and the doors opened into an entryway. Leo and Mikey gasped as they entered the apartment and walked down the hallway.

The way the room was furnished reminded them of ancient Japan. The only forms of technology were the light fixtures on the ceiling—only the bulbs had been taken out. There were candles everywhere, the only source of light. There were a few fluffy pillows around a low table; a light blue tea set was on the table. Hanging on the walls were katanas, cutlasses, sabers, Bo staffs, bows and arrows, axes, hammers, shuriken, daggers and many other weapons. There were also many display cases full of armor, helmets, china dolls, jade figurines, carved wooden pictures and other delicate items.

As Leo and Mikey's gaze traveled around the room, their eyes landed on a man in his early 40s. His gray-streaked black hair was receding and wrinkles were forming around his eyes. He was wearing a traditional kimono and practicing Bushido. Leo stared in amazement, he was defiantly a Master. He was fast and very skilled. Cerina noticed Leo holding his breath and the look of wonder on his face. She also noticed Mikey nudge Leo hard in the ribs and gave him a glare she couldn't read. Cerina decided the awkward silence needed to be broken. She stepped forward and bowed before the man.

"Master Artanis, Pearl and I have returned from school."

"Who is with you?" his voice was deep and raspy; he didn't look over.

"Leonardo and Michelangelo."

"Why are they here?" he never stopped his training.

"They are our friends. There are two more as well; Donatello and Raphael. They are brothers." Cerina continued to bow before Artanis.

"You have no time for friends."

"But Master, I thought—"

"Silence!! You will do as I say Serenity. You are only in school to learn. You do not need to make friends." Artanis stopped his training.

"M-Master …Artanis," Leo boldly stepped forward and Cerina stood up straight. "I do not agree with you. Friends make it easier to survive the day…especially when you are in high school. Friends can be there to help you with your problems, homework or you can just have fun with them."

"Leonardo was it? I admire your boldness; it is a good quality…when used in the right situation. However, now is not the time. Serenity and Pearl do not need friends at school. They have each other and they have me. That should be enough for them. You and your brother are dismissed from my house." Artanis held his katana threateningly.

Leo looked from Artanis to Cerina and Pearl, he then looked at Mikey. He turned to the door and began to leave. Cerina ran after him.

"Wait, Leonardo, Don't leave yet...please, don't listen to him. He's just…" Cerina grabbed Leo's arm and spun him around to face her. "Please…"

"I'll see you at school." Leo gently pulled his arm out of her grasp.

"No you won't." Master Artanis walked up and grabbed Cerina's shoulder roughly. "Serenity, I forbid you from even talking to them. That goes for you as well Pearl. Boy, leave my house now." He pointed to the elevator and Leo entered with Mikey. Before the doors closed, they heard Cerina yell:

"No matter how much you try, you'll never take the place of our father! Ever!" Mikey and Leo heard the sound of skin hitting bone and a body hitting the ground. From their experience, they could tell that the body was unconscious. Now, was it Cerina or Master Artanis? They couldn't tell; they only exchange worried glances as the elevator moved down in silence.


	2. Chapter 2

Chapter 2

The next day at school, the four brothers walked into ceramics. Yesterday, Leo had worked it out so that Cerina and Pearl could sit by the brothers in every class. Today, there were two empty seats at their table—with the bell about to ring. Leo looked at Mikey who returned his worried glance. Just as the bell rang, Pearl and Cerina ran into the room. Cerina handed a note to the teacher, Mrs. Butler.

"I'm sorry. We just transferred here and we couldn't find the room."

"That's no excuse to be late. Young lady, what is that in your hand?"

Pearl looked at the carton of milk in her hand. "Its milk…what did you think it was?"

"Poison. Now, take your seats. That table over there." Mrs. Butler pointed to the empty seats by Leo and Mikey. Cerina gave Pearl a nervous glance then headed to her seat, followed by her sister.

"Hey Pearl!" Mikey said, all too excited for this early in the morning.

"Hi…" she set her things next to her chair and sat down.

"Welcome to art class," Mrs. Butler stood in front of the class. "I know that many of you are here only for the art credit, but I don't want that to stop you from using the creative genius hidden inside of you. Each of you need to come up here and grab a bag of clay, you may then begin to sculpt whatever comes into your heads." As she sat back down behind her desk and began to take role, the students slowly got to their feet and walked up to her desk. Mikey and Leo pushed Cerina and Pearl back down into their seats and went to get clay for themselves and the girls. Pearl leaned in to whisper to Cerina.

"Sis, I don't think I can handle sitting next to Mikey if I can't even talk to him."

"I know how you feel Pearl, but Master Artanis specifically forbid us from being their friends."

"Cerina, can't we just throw that out the window and be friends with them anyway?"

"No…I don't think it's a good idea. I have a feeling that Master Artanis will find out." Cerina rubbed the scabbed and infected lump on her head.

"We'll keep it a secret. I promise, if he finds out, I'll tell him it was all my idea." Leo and Mikey were coming back with the bags of clay.

"That won't matter. He'll hit me anyway. You're his favorite, remember?" Cerina whispered, her voice getting quieter as Leo sat down.

"Who will hit you?" Leo asked as he placed a bag of clay in front of Cerina.

"No one…." Cerina opened her bag of clay and grabbed a large chunk from one corner. She leaned over to Pearl. "Alright…but if Artanis finds out, it's over. Got it?"

"Yeah!" Pearl reached into her own bag with new enthusiasm. "Hey Mikey, how are you today?"

"I'm wonderful. How did you survive last night?"

"What?" Pearl pounded her clay into a ball.

"Well…that Artanis guy seemed pretty pissed as we left. Are you and Cerina alright?"

"Yeah, we're fine. We cheered ourselves up by playing 'ninja tag' and—" Pearl stopped there because she fell victim to a very hard poke in the ribs by Cerina, but the others had already heard.

"Ninja tag'?" Raph asked "what's that?" Cerina couldn't miss the suspicious small smile on his face.

"It's just a game of tag. You play it at night when it's really dark and you can't see anything." Cerina quickly said before Pearl could say anything.

"Sounds like it would be a lot of fun." Don said as he attached a point to the throwing star that he was making. He looked up to his elder brother. "Leo, we should try it sometime."

"Donatello! You're amazing!" Pearl gasped as Don began to etch kanji symbols into his star for decoration. The rusty gears in Pearl's head were just starting to turn when Mikey smeared watered-down clay onto her cheek.

"You're so pretty." He smiled as he pressed a little glob on the tip of Pearl's nose.

"Mikey!" Pearl picked up a handful of clay and rubbed it in his hair. Pearl and Mikey's laughter filled the room as they started a mud fight.

"Great…I hope they know that they'll have to go the rest of the day like that." Leo was rolling his clay into long coils and laying them on top of each other to make a pot.

"I don't even think I care what my sister does anymore. I have to deal with her at home. When we're at school, she's the teacher's problem. Not mine." Cerina punched her clay. "What should I make?" she looked at Leo.

"You should make a ceramic china doll."

"Ok…it doesn't sound too easy, but I'll give it a try."

"Ask if you need help. I'm sure that I or Donny could help you."

"Right, thanks." Cerina began to form the head of her china doll.

They worked in silence for a few moments. Pearl and Mikey finished their mud fight and were trying to work on their projects through the drying clay on their face and in their hair. After another few moments, Pearl looked at Cerina.

"Um…sis I know that you probably think that I deserve this, but could you be really nice and help me wash some of this clay out of my hair?"

Cerina sighed; she had almost finished the doll's eyes. "Sure, Leonardo, the teacher won't mind if we just go to the bathroom will she?"

"No, she won't mind." Leo wiped his hands and pulled his long black hair into a braid.

"If she does ask, I'll just tell her that she was right and the milk you were drinking was poisonous and you died and Cerina left to go bury you in the jungles of South America." Mikey was trying to sculpt a skateboard.

"You do that Mikey. We'll be back soon." Cerina stood up and left the room with Pearl behind her. As they left the classroom, Pearl looked back to Mikey and then said something to Cerina. They both started laughing. Raph turned to Leo.

"Okay Leo, why are those two girls playin' our game?"

"Yeah, and why did Cerina have that lump on her head?" Don added.

"Why are you two asking me? I don't know."

"You went to their house last night. What did you see?"

"I wasn't the only one there. Mikey was with me."

"Yeah, and we would want to ask the space cadet…why?" Raph pointed at Mikey who had just crushed one of the wheels he was working on.

"Good point. All that happened was we showed up and met Artanis, who is a Bushido Master. Cerina introduced us as their friends, he blew up saying that friends are worthless and you should be able to get through life without them. He forbid Cerina and Pearl from being our friends, they can't even talk to us. I didn't see it, but I think Artanis hit Cerina when she tried to argue the point."

"That ain't right man!" Raph punched his clay really hard, causing the whole table to shake. "You shouldn't ever hit girls no matter what they do."

"Raph actually has morals?" Leo shook his head pretending to be stunned.

"Shut up, Splinter jr.! You shoulda' done somethin'!" Raph stood, ready to fight Leo.

"Raph, I am doing something."

"And what's that? Standin' by while she gets beat up?" Raph's hands curled into fists.

"I'm being their friend and if things get too violent at home, then I will go in there and teach Artanis what chivalry and honor mean." Leo made a fist under the table so his brothers wouldn't see how mad he really was. He had to work hard to keep his face and voice calm. Raph sat down, not convinced that Leo's plan was smart.

"What I want to know is why Artanis blew up like that. He seems like he's a very controlling person." Don had finished his throwing star and was leaning back in his chair with his arms behind his head.

"I don't know…maybe he's just really protective." Leo shook his head. 'How could any protective father beat his children?' Leo thought. 'Master Splinter is protective, but he would never raise a hand to us in anger…' Leo's thoughts were interrupted by Don.

"Leo, you still didn't answer why they are playing 'ninja tag'."

"I guess that it's because they have a Bushido Master as a father and he's probably training them in Ninjutsu. Cerina did call him 'Master'."

"Leo, I know that you're good at Bushido, but do you really think you can take on a Master?" Don leaned his forward, placing his chin in his hand, resting it on the table.

"I hope it won't come to that, but if it does…I'm counting on you—my brothers—to help me. For now though…let's just be their friends." Leo went back to working on his pot when Mikey looked up.

"Whattcha guys talkin' 'bout?" His brothers groaned, sighed, and rolled their eyes. Since Don was done, he got to explain.

Meanwhile, in the girls' bathroom, Cerina was running her fingers through Pearl's shining, wet hair. "I think I got it all."

"Thanks sis." Pearl looked in the mirror over the sink as she rung out her wet hair.

"Sure…hey, do you think they're talking about us?"

"Probably, you're not doing a very good job at hiding that bump."

"Yeah well…I don't see why I should hide it."

"I can think of four good reasons why you should."

"What reasons would those be?"

"Leonardo, Michelangelo, Donatello, and Raphael. They're probably worried about you, especially Leonardo and Mikey. I don't know if they saw last night, but I do know that they heard."

"Hmmm……" Cerina was checking the lump in the mirror. The swelling had gone down. "Do you think Artanis was like this when he was friends with Dad?"

"I don't know. But I can't imagine our father being friends with someone who beats his students."

"_Student_." Cerina corrected. "You never train long enough for it to do any good. Plus, he wouldn't hurt you if his life depended on it. You're his favorite. Besides, it's not beating, it's called 'aggressive teaching'." Cerina pulled her hair over the lump but it just slid back.

"Well, his 'aggressive teaching' put you in the emergency room three times."

"The last time really was my fault. He told me to never touch his heirloom katanas and I did."

"Only because I bet you twenty bucks that you were too chicken."

"I needed the money and seeing you in that chicken costume was worth it." The two girls laughed till their sides hurt. "We should get back now; we don't want to get on Mrs. Butler's 'naughty' list too soon in the school year."

"That wouldn't be a first." Pearl and Cerina did a high five as they left the bathroom. They walked down the hallway looking at the graffiti on the walls and lockers and the trash on the floor. This school was so much different then the private school they went to the last few years. In that school you couldn't even look at someone without permission. Artanis loved it when they were going to that school; Cerina couldn't stand it there. All the other girls were afraid of her because she was too 'tough'. Artanis only agreed to let them go to public school when Cerina threatened to turn him in on child abuse charges. He had quickly agreed to let them attend this high school; it was better then loosing his precious Pearl. The two sisters had laughed hard that night. When they made it back to the classroom, they noticed that the air felt a lot thicker around their table—the girls figured it was because the teacher had gotten mad at the four brothers for goofing off. The girls took their seats between Leo and Mikey.

"Feel better?" Raph asked as he pounded so more clay into his blob.

"Yes, I can move my head again." Pearl began to mush her clay into a ball again.

"Great, class is almost over, we should clean up." Don said as he began to put his things away. His throwing star was finished to perfection.

"Okay. Pearl, what do we have next?" Cerina asked her little sister.

"Why are you askin' me? I don't know."

"Because you have the schedule."

"I do?"

"Yes, I handed it to you before we left this morning."

"Oh yeah. Now I remember." Pearl fished in her backpack until she found the paper.

"How can it get lost so easily? You've only had it in there for one class period…" Cerina poked Pearl's sides, causing her to jump.

"Cerina! Grr! Okay, we have…..gym next then lunch, study hall and 8th is science."

"Whoa!" Mikey jumped to his feet and snatched the paper away from Pearl. "You really do have all the same classes as us!" Mikey handed the paper back to Pearl.

"Really? That's so cool!" She put the paper away as the bell rang.

"Come on Cerina, Pearl. Let's not be late for our next class." Leo picked up Cerina's bag and held out his arm for Cerina to take it. When she didn't, he gently took her arm in his and led the blushing Cerina out into the hall. Pearl was more willing and grabbed Mikey's arm before he could even offer it.

When the class dressed and was assembled in the gym, the coach came out and stood in front of them. As he took roll, Pearl leaned over Mikey. "He looks like a gorilla. I'm gonna call him that from now on. Coach Gorilla." Mikey snorted and Raph hit him upside the head.

"Alright class, today, we're running laps. Save your groaning for later. I don't want to hear it. Let's go, outside!" Coach Gorilla growled.

The class walked outside and onto the track. Raph smacked Don upside the head and took off with Don in close pursuit. Leo, Mikey, Pearl, and Cerina decided to stretch out first. The boys were just as shocked as the girls were at how flexible the others were. When they were done stretching, they began to run around the track. Cerina was easily keeping pace with the boys while Pearl was having some trouble. Soon, they caught up with Don and Raph.

"I'm proud of you girls." Raph mocked as he ran backwards. "You can keep up with us boys."

"Is that a challenge Raphael?" Cerina asked as she sped up.

"Only if you want it to be." Raph turned around so that he was running forwards again.

"You shouldn't do that. Raphael's on the tack team." Called a boy who was running near by.

"That will make my victory even more rewarding." Cerina smiled as she took off.

"Holy shell!" Raph's eyes opened wide as he ran after her. They ran around the track once, Cerina clearly winning. They came up behind Pearl and the other three.

Cerina pushed past Pearl and Mikey, smacked Leo on the arm and called "Tag you're it!!!" and she took off again, dodging between people. Everyone ran from Leo as fast as they could. Before they knew it, gym was over and they were sitting in the old courtyard.

"Today went by fast again." Mikey laid down on the bench again.

"Today isn't over yet Mikey." Leo sat on the ground, leaning up against the retaining wall.

"Raph would you go away!?" Don put his book away. "I'm not giving you the answers! You have to do the work on your own, then—if you are still confused—I'll help you." Don got up and walked away.

"Geez…what's eatin' Donny?" Raph asked as he sat on the low wall by Cerina.

"I don't know, he's been on edge for the last day or so. It _is_ odd." Leo opened one eye to look at Raph and Cerina. "I've only ever seen him this worked up once and it didn't end so well. I'll go talk to him." Leo stood and ran after Don. Once there, he asked "Donny, what's wrong bro?"

"It's nothing." Don tried to push past Leo.

"'Nothing' my shell. Come on bro, what's bugging you?"

"It's Artanis; I did some research on the net because his name sounded familiar. Apparently, 13 years ago, he killed a man because his wife was having an affair. But it was too late. Artanis's wife had already given birth to twin girls. The other man's daughters. The two men were best friends."

"That's harsh. Looks like Artanis is holding a grudge. But who are the girls and where is the wife?" Leo leaned against the wall, looking at Cerina, Pearl, Mikey, and Raph.

"I dug that up too. The older girl's name is Serenity, the younger is Pearl." A serious shadow fell over Don's face. "The wife was killed in a freak car accident."

"Spooky. What are we gonna do?" Leo folded his arms across his chest.

"I don't know, you're the leader, what do you think we should do?"

"I'm thinking. Did Artanis ever go to jail?"

"No, the case never went to court. All the evidence points to Artanis and everyone thinks he's guilty. It could have been a suicide, but that's unlikely."

"How did he die?"

"A stab wound through the neck. The specialists that did the autopsy believe it was done with a thin razor-sharp blade similar to a katana."

"Well, that would explain why Artanis is the prime suspect. Did he really get custody of Cerina and Pearl?"

"Yeah, it was in the wife's will that the girls were to stay with Artanis if anything happened to her or their father."

"Do you think the girls know about Artanis and their father?"

"How should I know that? I'm still trying to decide if we should talk to them or not. The girls, I mean." Don pulled out his laptop, logged on to the internet and brought up the article from the Metropolitan Daily News. Leo leaned over his shoulder to look for himself. "I even called the reporter who did this article and the chief of police. All the facts check out so I know it wasn't a slow day in the breaking news industry."

"And why, brother, did you not want to tell me?"

"I didn't want you to worry about them. I know how you feel about Cerina."

"And why would I—how did you know?" Leo suddenly stammered.

"It was easy to figure out. When you start carrying their things, giving them rides and opening doors, you know it's more then friendship."

"As long as I'm not that obvious to her…anyway, don't say anything yet. I want to talk to Master Splinter. Once I find out what he thinks, we can tell Raph and Mikey." The bell for lunch to end rang.

"Mmm…'k." Don put his laptop away and began to walk away.

"Donny, promise me." Leo stuck out his arm to block Don's exit.

"Alright, I promise Leo." Don pushed past Leo and into the crowded hallway. Leo sighed and turned around. He headed back into the courtyard to pick up Cerina and make sure Mikey wasn't embarrassing their family. They were still waiting for him.

"What did Don say?" Raph stood up and picked up his bag.

"It was nothing. He…he was just stressing about college stuff. You know; tests, money, programs, classes, scholarships. That kinda thing. Pearl, Cerina…do you have things to do during study hall?" Leo picked up Cerina's bag.

"Well, I was going to work on our English homework so I won't have to do it tonight." Cerina walked with Leo into the hallway.

"I was going to read Fruits Basket." Pearl said as she followed behind with Mikey and Raph.

"Which one?" Mikey asked.

"Number 15." Pearl reached into her bag and pulled it out.

"Cool!" Mikey grabbed it out of her hands. "I haven't read this one yet. Can I read over your shoulder?" Mikey asked as he held the manga high over his head as Pearl jumped to get it back.

"Only if you give it back!" Pearl made another jump for the manga, missed and fell flat on her face. "Ow..." she grumbled and Mikey bent down to help her up. Once she was on her feet, Mikey gave her back the book. "Thank you! Gosh, Cerina, why do men have to be so annoying?"

Cerina just laughed as they made their way into the biggest room in the whole school: the library. Most of this room was taken up by computers and tables. The walls were lined with shelves, but there were only a few books on them. Don was already sitting at a table with his laptop out. They joined him at the table and Leo and Mikey set down the girls' things while Raph flipped a chair around and sat on it backwards.

"I'll go sign in for you." Leo walked over to the counter, whispered something to the librarian, and signed a sheet of paper. He came back down and sat between Don and Cerina. Pearl was already reading her book with Mikey looking over her shoulder. Leo noticed that Mikey's arm was strategically draped over the back of the chair and around Pearl for 'balance'. His youngest brother was smoother then Leo gave him credit for. He pulled out his own English homework and the period passed without event…except when Mikey pulled back some of Pearl's hair, she blushed and he kissed her cheek. Leo didn't know that it was that humanly possible to turn that red. After Mikey did this, he looked up, saw that Leo had noticed, and gave him a 'thumbs up' behind Pearl's back.

The bell rang and the six of them headed off to science. That class dragged on for what seemed like an eternity. The teacher began class by talking about genetics; that didn't last long. The rest of the students got him talking about the reproduction system which led to a lecture about abstinence and STDs. The part of the class that hadn't fallen asleep found this lecture entertaining. Pearl and Mikey had a sword fight with their pencils, Leo played with Cerina's hair while she doodled, Don was doing more 'research' on the net, and Raph was asleep. The bell rang—finally—for class to end.

"That was a drag!" Mikey yawned and picked up his and Pearl's bags and they headed out the building with the rest of the now happy students.

"Do you need another ride?" Leo asked Cerina.

"We have money for a taxi today." Pearl said as she pulled out her wallet to prove her point.

"We can give you a ride. It's no trouble." Don said as he put his laptop away. He'd been using it as they were walking out to the car.

"I don't think—" Cerina began

"Cerina, just get in the car." Leo opened the door for her. She got in; she couldn't resist the look in Leo's eyes. Pearl slid into the middle next to her sister. Mikey got in the back with them. Don got in the passenger's side and handed the keys over to Leo who sat in the driver's seat. Raph road up next to them on his red motorcycle. Leo rolled the window down.

"You takin' the girls home?" Raph asked as he took off his helmet.

"Yeah, are you going home?" Leo started the car.

"I…wanted to see where Pearl and Cerina live."

"Alright, follow the car." Leo backed up the car and pulled out of the parking lot. Raph put his helmet on and followed Leo.

"So, how long have you lived in your apartment?" Don asked, Leo instantly knew what he was up to.

"Since we were four years old." Pearl answered.

"Is Artanis your father?" Leo turned left as Don asked this question.

"No." growled Cerina. "He's our adopted father."

"How…um…" Mikey tried to think of how to ask this question.

"When our mother gave birth to us; she was married to Artanis before, during, and after our birth. Our father committed suicide and Artanis adopted us." Pearl explained glancing at Cerina nervously.

"So your mom was having an affair?" Leo parked the car in front of the building; Raph parked behind Leo and got off his bike.

"Yeah, he was Artanis's best friend." Cerina's hands curled into fists. She didn't wait for Leo to open the door and got out. Mikey made Pearl wait for him to get out first. He shut that door, walked around to the other side of the car, and opened that door so that Pearl wouldn't have to get in the street. Leo got the girls' bags out of the trunk.

"So is Artanis home?" Leo asked as he slung Cerina's bag over his shoulder, ready to take on Artanis again just to walk Cerina home.

"No, he works all day on Friday. He won't get home until 9:00 pm or so." Pearl said as she punched in her code and opened the door. The brothers followed Pearl and Cerina into the building, to the elevator and up their apartment.

"Holy shell!" Raph exclaimed as they walked into the girls' apartment.

"Why do you say that?" Pearl asked

"This house is amazing!" Raph was inspecting the weapons on the walls.

"No, I mean 'shell'. Why do you say that word?" as Pearl specified her question the brothers exchanged looks.

"Oh, that. Um…our guardian gets mad when we say 'hell' so we say 'shell' instead because it's not 'hell' but it sounds like it." Don quickly explained.

"Oh, that makes sense." Pearl took her bag from Mikey. "Cerina...where'd she go?" Pearl looked around for her sister who had disappeared. Everyone looked around

"Maybe she went to the bathroom." Leo set down Cerina's bag by the couch.

"She's gotten better." Pearl whispered as she started down the hallway.

"What?" Mikey looked over to Pearl.

"Nothing. Let me go find my sister. Make yourselves at home." With that Pearl walked down the hallway and stopped in front of Cerina's door. She knocked quietly.

"Go away." came the answer from inside. Pearl opened the door and walked in anyway. Cerina's room looked like it belonged in a Japanese palace. The only modern things in this room were Cerina's homemade laptop and her clothes. Cerina was sitting on the windowsill with her leg hanging out and the wind blowing her black hair back. Despite the fact that they were more then seventy stories up, and she was hanging half out, Cerina wasn't afraid. She was crying silently.

"Hey sis, what's up?" Pearl came over and sat on the other side of the windowsill, both her feet hanging out.

"Pearl, why did he have to die? I want to see him again so bad it's eating me up inside. I still have nightmares…"

"Can you remember them yet?"

"Just Dad's voice. I just can't see why he would kill himself like that. I miss Mom also." Cerina stared out at the New York skyline.

"What brought this on?"

"I don't know, maybe it was meeting Leonardo and the rest or Artanis forbidding us from being their friends. I just don't think that Dad would do something like that to us."

"I agree. But the thing is…well, there is an air around them I can't help but to be drawn to them."

"I know." Cerina wiped the tears from her cheeks.

"Then let's go see them, and hang out with them. At least for a little while." Pearl swung her legs back over the ledge and walked across the room and stopped at the door.

"What if he comes home early again?" Cerina turned into the room.

"Then we'll deal with that when he showed up." Pearl left the room.

"She doesn't get it…" Cerina sighed and walked out of the room.

After Pearl left, Mikey jumped onto the low couch and stretched out; Don sat down with his laptop out, Raph kept looking at the weapons.

"They really have a nice place." Mikey yawned. "I could get used to living here. It's certainly better then the lair."

"Mikey, don't say that. The lair is our home and Master Splinter likes it there." Leo was walking around the display cases, looking at the woodcarvings. "I wonder what Artanis does for a living…a lot of those items look rare and expensive."

"He's probably a business man." Raph called in from the kitchen.

"What makes you say that?" asked Mikey jumping up and running into the kitchen.

"The size of his address book." Raph held up a thick address book that couldn't close. "How many contacts do you think are in here?"

"As many clients as Artanis has." Pearl said as she came into the kitchen. "And yes, he's a business man. He started a business with one of his friends from college. Artanis usually works from here, but on Fridays, he needs to go into the office."

"And what are you doing going through Artanis's things?" Cerina asked as she came into the kitchen also.

"We were just looking for a pizza delivery number." Mikey said, standing behind Pearl. "Let's play an improve game!" Mikey ran back into the living room, jumped over the couch, and patted the seat next to him. Pearl, laughing, ran over to him and sat down next to him.

"Why not?" Raph went to join them as Don also came into the room. Leo and Cerina exchanged glances before they moved into the living room also.

"Okay, the game that we're gonna play is called 'scenes not seen'. What you do is act out scenes not seen from movies we decided on. Understand?" Mikey explained.

"Yeah!" replied Raph.

"Right anyone wanna name the first movie?" Mikey looked around.

"_Mary Poppins_" Pearl said.

"I have the prefect one!" Mikey stood up, pulled Pearl up, and whispered something into her ear. Pearl nodded and acted as if she was taking some pills.

"Great…Mary's poppin' again." Mikey said, pretending like he was worried or concerned. Everyone laughed, but as Don went to go up, the main door opened. Pearl and Cerina exchanged nervous glances as the four brothers stood up. Pearl also got to her feet and ran into the hallway to stall Master Artanis.

"Master! You're home early. Did you have a good day?" Pearl exclaimed trying to not show how scared she was. In the other room, Cerina hid her face in her hands for a moment, thinking of what to do. When she looked up, the four brothers were gone. It was like they just disappeared. Cerina stood up and looked around as Pearl came back into the living room.

"Where are they?" she whispered.

"I don't know." Cerina looked around and noticed Don's bag next to the couch. "Crap!" Cerina pointed to the bag.

"What are you girls whispering about?" Artanis came into the room and acting more cheerful then normal.

"Um…that was a science project. That bag was full of rats. I accidentally dropped it and the rats got loose." Cerina stood up and bowed. "I'm sorry Master."

"It's alright Serenity. Please go start your training after you've caught them; I want you to focus on your split kick today. I will be going out with Pearl tonight, there's a new restaurant that she has to try. We'll be back before midnight." Artanis took Pearl's hand and pulled her towards the door. As they left, Cerina stood and practiced for about an hour before she climbed out onto the roof. Once she was there, she ran along the rooftops, jumping and flipping over gaps. She didn't care where she ended up, as long as she got out of that apartment.

From the distance, four turtle brothers watched her run.


	3. Chapter 3

Chapter 3

Two weeks had passed since Leo, Mikey, Don and Raph had met Pearl and Cerina. They couldn't stop thinking about these girls. Mikey couldn't play video games anymore, Leo's meditation was his excuse to daydream, Raph now ran the roof tops in hopes of seeing one of the girls and Don had felt a new creative spark.

It was early in the evening, around 7:30, and the four turtles were training in their Ninjutsu. Don was fighting Leo and Mikey was fighting Raph. Though Master Splinter thought it was only training, these four brothers were in the middle of a full on battle. Each one wanted victory…and the prize? Cerina and Pearl; they disagreed about everything about these girls; their favorite colors, food, movies, music and books. The only thing that they did agree on was these girls were their new best friends. Raph and Mikey began fighting when Raph wasn't thinking and asked—out loud—if Mikey thought Pearl would look good in a bikini. Mikey was standing up for Pearl's honor. The fight between Leo and Don began when Don said that Leo was too forward with Cerina, that he was flirting too much.

The fighting went on for almost an hour before Master Splinter realized that this wasn't just training. He stood and tapped his stick against the stone floor. As the sharp tap rang out, the four turtles stopped. Mikey was on the ground with Raph kneeling on top of him—the point of his sai barely above Mikey's right eye. Don was up against the wall, his Bo staff up, and blocking Leo's katanas.

"Kneel my sons." Splinter's voice rang out in the sudden silence of the underground home. The four did as they were told. They couldn't even look at the turtle they had been fighting. "What is this about my sons? I know that you were really fighting with each other about something and that you were not just training."

"Master Splinter, Raph totally dissed on my girl!!" Mikey complained as he pointed at Raph.

"I did not! 'N' don't try 'n' convince me that you haven't ever wondered what she would look like!" Raph made fists, ready to fight again.

"My sons……this would not be about those two girls Pearl and…um…Cerlina…"

"Cerina" Leo corrected "and yes, it is about them."

"Thank you Leonardo." Splinter cleared his throat "you four are a team. You should not let these things--girls distract you or come between you. If it will help, I will not let you see them. If that is too difficult you will have to share them."

"WHAT!?" Don stood up. "Share them? How'll that work?"

"It won't." Raph stood as well. "I'm not gonna let Mikey touch Pearl."

"You're gonna have to Raph!" Mikey stood and made a fist. "What makes you think I'm gonna let you even talk to Pearl when you're imagining her in kinky clothes?"

"Brothers! Please, this really isn't worth fighting over! Let's just leave things the way that they are and let Cerina and Pearl choose." Leo stood up and Master Splinter stepped back to let Leo handle this.

"Leo, you sound really confident. Almost as if you know Cerina's gonna pick you." Don turned to face Leo.

"I'm not confident Don, but there _is_ always the chance that it won't be you either. It could be Raph, Mikey or someone completely different!"

"That is a good point my son. Now, why don't you go to the surface and play some 'ninja tag'? While you're up there, think on what Leonardo and I have said." Master Splinter walked over to the couch and sat down, turning the TV on. The brothers looked at each other and—without a word—ran through the door and didn't stop until they were topside.

"Come on, you two have put in so much overtime already, why don't you just go on home tonight?" Said the boss of the English Bodi Club, Josh, as he walked out from around the bar.

"He has a point. Cerina, let's go home." Pearl took off her apron and walked over the get her coat from the rack behind the door.

"Alright, but we're walking today." Cerina ran to get her coat from the coat rack. She and Pearl ran out the door and Pearl shivered in the cold air.

"Remind me again dear sister, why we have to wear these stupid short leather skirts?" Pearl tried to pull her skirt father down her legs.

"Because it's part of the uniform and we need this job."

"Correction, _you_ need this job. I get money from Artanis."

"Yeah, because you're his favorite! How many times has he taken you out to dinner, plays, or movies while I've had to sit home and train?" Cerina stopped her sister.

"In the last week?" Pearl innocently asked as Cerina nodded, "about twelve times."

"Have I ever gone to these places with you two?"

"No…"

"Exactly." Cerina began to walk again. "You're his favorite. He spoils you because you're the younger of us and you look like mom." They walked in silence for a few streets. They turned to walk down a dark alley when Cerina grabbed Pearl's arm. "Hold it. I don't like how quiet it is down there. I think we should go another way." Cerina turned again to continue down the main road but Pearl stopped her.

"Come on. We walk down this alley almost every night. It's the same as always. Plus it'll take us twice as long if we go around."

"Apparently you need to train some more. I feel an evil presence down there."

"Oh stop. Let's just go!" Pearl pulled Cerina into the alley. Cerina would have pulled away, but she didn't want to hurt her sister. As they walked down the alley, Cerina kept her senses open—something was wrong. Very wrong.

When they were about halfway down the alley, three members of the Purple Dragon Gang jumped out from behind a garbage can. Cerina protectively stepped in front of her sister. Six more jumped down from the near by fire escape while four stepped out of the shadows. The two girls were completely surrounded. Cerina didn't waste time; she jumped at two of the guys and knocked them out with a prefect split kick. She took another one out with a strong punch to the abdomen. As she was about to do a round kick, she heard Pearl scream. When she spun to face her sister, she was picked up by a very large man and was thrown into one of the buildings. As her head met the brick, she tasted blood in her mouth. She was now cornered between the large man, the building and two more Purple Dragons. Cerina looked to her sister and watched in horror as six guys jumped on her sister, pulling her down to the ground. One of the Purple Dragons ripped open Pearl's shirt, snapping the buttons while another pushed her skirt up. Cerina sprang towards her sister, yelling—but she was knocked back by the large man. As Cerina felt a foot connect with her face, she heard Pearl scream out as loud as she could. Cerina's vision was beginning to go fuzzy, her head swam, and her ears rang. Right before she blacked out, she saw four sets of green legs join the fight. The Dragons were soon dispersed and she saw one of the sets of legs run over to her. When the owner knelt down, she saw a large turtle wearing a blue bandanna, double katanas and had deep green eyes.

"Cerina…?" It whispered and she was gone.

"Leo, slow down!" Mikey yelled as they jumped across another gap. They were playing 'ninja tag' and Mikey was 'it'. He was running as fast as he could, but he couldn't catch his brothers. Raph had disappeared soon after the game started, Don had climbed up a flagpole on one of the buildings, and Leo was running circles around Mikey.

"Come on little brother! You should be able to run faster then that!" Leo laughed as he flipped out of Mikey's reach; as he landed on the ledge around the edge of the roof, someone grabbed his ankle, throwing him off balance.

"Gottcha!" Mikey yelled as he smacked Leo's shell. "Thank you Raph." Mikey stepped around Leo to help Raph up onto the roof. Don came sliding down from his flagpole to meet up with his brothers.

"Mikey, that was cheating!" Leo complained.

"Don't use that as an excuse Jungle Boy." Raph pushed Leo aside so he could jump off the ledge. "You lost your balance and Mikey caught you."

"I only lost my balance because of you Raph!"

"And helpin' out my favorite little brother is cheatin'? It's not like he asked me to do it." Raph folded his arms across the front of his shell.

"Raph, you know the rules. There's no—" Don was cut off by Mikey.

"Did you hear that?" He asked, very seriously.

"What?" Leo asked, worried. Mikey was never serious unless something was very wrong.

"It sounded like a woman screaming……listen." Mikey whispered and everyone held their breath. Above the sounds of the city, they heard another scream for help. His brothers could almost see the fear in Mikey's eyes. "Pearl…" he whispered again and he took off over the rooftops; his brother close behind him.

Once they found the alley, they looked down to see 13 Purple Dragons—three were knocked out—attacking Cerina and Pearl. They saw four surrounding Cerina and six were on Pearl. They looked at each other; it looked like Pearl was being……they didn't finish that thought. They silently jumped down into the alley and made short work of the Purple Dragons. Mikey and Raph attacked the ones on Pearl while Leo and Don took care of the ones around Cerina. Once they were all out cold Leo ran over to Cerina. She was almost unconscious.

"Cerina…?" he whispered as he watched her eyes try and focus on him. She was gone, out cold. Don came running over, dropping his Bo staff, he knelt down and examined the back of Cerina's head. There were a few small gashes which were bleeding really badly.

"Why do head wounds have to bleed so bad?" Don whispered to Leo as they stopped the bleeding. While they were worrying about Cerina, Mikey and Raph were worried about Pearl. Mikey helped Pearl sit up.

"Are you okay?" Mikey's voice was full of worry as Pearl pulled her shirt shut and slid her skirt down.

"I…I think I'm okay, but…do I know you?" Pearl was looking into Mikey's dark brown eyes. As Pearl asked, Raph grabbed Mikey's arm and pulled him into the shadows. Don and Leo soon followed them. Pearl looked around confused then, seeing Cerina, she crawled over to her unconscious sister. She gently pulled Cerina's hair out of her face and sat next to her softly placing Cerina's head into her lap. They sat like that for almost half an hour. Cerina stirred, moaned, and opened her eyes. She sat up, her hand on the back of her head. "Good morning sunshine." Pearl whispered and Cerina remembered what had happened.

"SHIT! Pearl are you okay?" Cerina looked into her sister's eyes and saw deep pain there. "What did they do?"

Pearl didn't answer but adjusted her coat over her open shirt.

"Damn it Pearl!! Answer me!" Cerina took Pearl's shoulders, ignoring the pounding pain in the back of her head.

"I…they did…" Pearl whispered.

"Can you stand?" Cerina held her hand out as she stood, fighting back a wave of dizziness. Pearl took her sister's hand.

"I think so," She tried to pull her legs under herself, but they wobbled and she fell back down. "GAH!! ...maybe not." Pearl started shaking as Cerina bent down and picked up her sister in cradle. Her legs shook and her head pounded but she ignored them. She had to be strong for Pearl.

"Ready?" Cerina asked and, before Pearl could answer, she began to climb and jump up the fire escape of the apartment next to them. Once they hit the roof, Cerina didn't stop. She began to run towards the safety of their home. Pearl buried her face in her sister's chest, listening to and feeling Cerina's strong, even breaths. Hot tears ran down her cheeks and she clung to her sister for dear life.

From another rooftop, four brothers once again watched Cerina run. Mikey turned to Leo. "Do you think she'll be okay? I don't know for sure…but it looked like Pearl was raped. But I don't know if that guy was just starting or just finishing." He fiddled with his nunchakus.

"I can't think about that, the thought disgusts me. I'm sure Cerina will look after and protect Pearl. Both of them are very strong." Leo said, reassuring himself more then Mikey.

"I'm surprised Cerina could lift Pearl and run like that at all. She gave herself a nice concussion." Don said as he leaned against his Bo staff.

"We shouldn't a saved um." Raph was leaning against a wall and spinning one of his sais.

"How can you say that Raph?" Don looked to the turtle in red in horror.

"Because dipstick here almost blew our cover." Raph pointed a sai at Mikey who drew his other nunchaku.

"Raph, would it have made a difference if we didn't know them?" Leo stepped between Raph and Mikey.

"No, I woulda kicked the shell outta those Dragons anyway!"

"Why would you do that Raph?" Leo continued

"Because they were rapin' her!" Raph yelled. He stopped himself from saying more because he realized that Leo was talking riddles again and was able to get Raph to change his mind about saving Pearl and Cerina. Leo turned his back to Raph and watched Cerina's form fade into the night.

Later that night, Artanis walked into the apartment. He tried to be quiet in case Pearl was asleep. He wasn't worried or concerned about Serenity. She was just a girl who lived here and looked so much like his best friend Haru. But Pearl—she was his daughter. Or he'd like to think so. He gave Pearl everything she ever wanted in hopes that she would think of him as her father. As he walked down the hallway to his bedroom, he noticed Pearl's bedroom light was on (he had allowed her to have electricity in her room so she could play video games). He stopped himself from walking in when he heard Serenity's voice.

"It won't do any good to tell him Pearl." Serenity's voice sounded tired and forced.

"But maybe he can do something." Pearl sounded like she had been crying.

"No Pearl, it won't. Artanis may be an influential business man, but what could he do against the Purple Dragons?"

"I don't know, he could tell the police."

"And the Purple Dragons would either pay off the police or they would beat the shit out of the police." Artanis cringed; he hated it when Serenity used harsh language.

"Okay, so you have a point sis."

"Are you sure that you're okay?"

"I'm fine. It hurts a little, but it's alright now."

"Pearl, you don't have to act strong if you don't wanna be."

"But Artanis always says that you should never show your feelings."

"That's what he tells me when he doesn't want to deal with me. I'm telling you as you leader and your older sister, if you want to cry, cry." Artanis held his breath as he listened. What could have happed to his sweet Pearl? What did Serenity want him to _not_ know? He listened closer as Pearl began to cry again.

"I'm sorry Cerina! I was the one that made you go down that alley even though you sensed something was wrong. Because of that, you got knocked out!"

"Pearl, I should have tried harder to keep you from going down there. You were raped for Christ's sake and I wasn't strong enough to save you! Do you have any idea how responsible I feel?"

"How's your head?" Pearl asked, changing the subject.

"It's still bleeding and a little sore, but I don't care. I'm more worried about you." Cerina tried to get Pearl back on subject but she switched gears again.

"Did you see who saved us?"

"No, I blacked out. Who was it?" Cerina asked as she sighed.

"I'm not sure, it was dark, but I think it was Mikey and his brothers."

"Now that I think about it, before I blacked out, I think I remember seeing Leonardo's eyes."

Artanis's heart stopped. Those were the guys that he forbid Pearl and Serenity from seeing. He didn't care if they saved he Pearl or not, Serenity had disobeyed his orders. He walked into the room to see Pearl lying on her side, holding her stomach. She was still crying. Serenity was sitting on the edge of the bed, she stood when Artanis entered the room and she bowed.

"Master," she stood up right again. "We aren't keeping you awake are we?"

"I thought I forbid you from seeing those boys." Artanis shouted as he drew his dagger and pushed it against Cerina's neck, drawing a single drop of blood.

"It was my fault!" Pearl stood and started to walk forward. Cerina held out her arm and blocked her.

"No it wasn't Pearl, sit back down. Master Artanis, I allowed Pearl to see them and befriend them despite your direct orders." Cerina clenched her fists, ready for impact. Artanis raised his hand and plunged his dagger into Cerina's abdomen. She stood there for a moment, shock on her face, before she fell back into Pearl's arms.

"What!? Cerina! Cerina! NO! Why did you do that!?" Pearl yelled, trying to stop the bleeding from Cerina's wound. "Artanis I hate you! My father would have never done that! I wish he were still alive and I'd never met you!! I hate you!" Pearl's tears fell on Cerina's face. Artanis dropped his dagger and slowly backed out of the room, looking at his blood stained hand. He ran into his room, cursing himself. He slammed the door shut as a tear ran down his cheek. 'What have I done? How could I bring more pain into that girl's heart? First her father and now her sister…what have I become?' he thought as he collapsed into the chair behind his desk.

"Cerina," Pearl whispered. "Hey sis, stay with me. Please don't leave me!"

"…Pearl…" Cerina was struggling to get air into her lungs "…call…Leo…my…phone…" Cerina blacked out again as Pearl began to search her sister's pockets until she found her phone. Blood smeared across the buttons as she found Leo's contact. She called him and held her breath as it rang. He answered.

"Cerina?" he asked.

"No, it's Pearl. I need your help. Cerina's been stabbed in the stomach. I need help. Please hurry!"

"Whoa, slow down Pearl. Where are you?" His voice was full of concern.

"In our apartment."

"Do you know who did it?"

"Yes…Artanis." Pearl whispered, trying to keep her voice even.

"What? Stay where you are, I'm on my way. I'm in Don's car now." Leo spoke quickly. Pearl heard a car door open and voices in the background.

"What's happened?" Came Don's voice.

"Cerina's been hurt really bad and Pearl needs our help." Leo replied.

"Pearl? I'm coming!" Mikey's voice rang out and Pearl guessed that he yelled right by the phone.

"So am I." Came Raph's voice also.

"Then get in the car. We need to hurry." Pearl heard four doors slam shut and the car start. "Pearl?"

"Yeah"

"I'm going to hand the phone to Donny so I can drive. He'll try to help okay?"

"Sure, just hurry."

"Pearl? It's Donny. I need you to tell me where she got hurt."

"She's been stabbed in her stomach."

"Look and tell me exactly where the injury is."

"Um…" Pearl pulled up her sister's shirt a little, and fought back a wave of nausea. "The right side of her belly button."

"Okay, take an old shirt or towel and keep pressure on it. Don't let up until we get there 'k?"

"Yes, I got it." Pearl grabbed a shirt from her drawer and pressed it against the wound.

"Will you be alright if I hang up?"

"I…I think so. Just _please_ hurry!"

"See you in a minute."

"Right." Pearl said as she let is slip from her grip. She closed her eyes and prayed that Cerina would be all right. A few minutes passed until she heard Mikey's voice from the kitchen.

"Pearl?"

"Come down the hallway, the third door." Pearl called out and before she finished, the four brothers were already in the room. Don's wavy brown hair was tied back and he had a large and well-used first aid kit; he knelt down by Cerina and had Pearl move her hands. He opened the kit and pulled out some gauze and told Raph to go get some hot water. When Raph returned, Don cleaned the wound. Leo knelt by Cerina's head.

"Are you sure it was Artanis?" He asked, his voice was raspy and sounded strained.

"Yes, I was standing right here! She fell back into my arms!" Pearl was trying to control her voice.

"I'll be back. Donny, take care of her." Leo stood and walked out of the room. As he turned the corner, Raph grabbed Leo's elbow.

"What ya doin' bro?" He whispered.

"I already told you Raph. If things got too violent, I would challenge Artanis to a battle of honor. I'm going to do just that."

"I'll come with ya. Just in case."

"Let's hurry. I don't want to be away from Cerina longer then I have to." Leo and Raph hurried through the house looking in all the rooms until they found the room Artanis was in. Leo suddenly stopped in the doorway, causing Raph to run into him.

"What is it? What's happened?" Raph hit his brother's back.

"Someone got to him before us." Leo moved and pointed to Artanis. Raph stepped to the side to see Artanis lying on his side, eyes open and cold…a katana through his chest.

"Do ya think he was killed?" Raph asked as he stepped further into the room.

Leo walked over and bent down, examining the wound. "I don't think so. It looks like suicide." He stood up again and backed up a little.

"That would make sense." Don said as he came into the room. "He stabbed his best student."

"And adopted daughter." Pearl also walked in. Leo started to ask about Cerina but Pearl cut him off. "She's fine. Don says her heart rate is a little slow, but her breathing's gotten better." Mikey walked in behind Pearl and put his hand on her shoulder.

"But she's still unconscious; I just came to make sure you didn't do something stupid Leo." Don walked up to Artanis. "I'll let you off the hook big brother, this was defiantly suicide."

"I'm going to check on Cerina." Leo walked out of the room as Pearl knelt by Artanis.

"You weren't such a bad guy." She whispered, closing his eyes. Mikey held out his hand and helped her stand up.

"Let's go into the other room." He said softly

"Alright." As they walked out of the room, Mikey slipped his arm around her waist.

"He may be an idiot, but he's a smooth idiot." Raph said as he and Don followed them out of the room.

In Cerina's candle lit room, Leo knelt by Cerina's head. He placed his hand on her forehead as she groaned. With his other hand, he gently lifted the bottom of her shirt and checked Don's sewing. 'Don did a good job. He's better at giving stitches then any doctor around.' Leo thought as he placed her shirt back down. Cerina groaned again, and a small whimper escaped her lips. 'She must really be in pain.' He thought again as a look of worry formed on his face. Leo moved his hand from Cerina's forehead to her hand. He felt her hand tighten around his. He smiled; maybe she would choose him after all.

In the family room, Pearl was leaning against Mikey's chest. He had both his arms around her to keep her from shaking. He wasn't doing a very good job seems as Pearl was shaking uncontrollably.

"Shh….Pearl, everything will be alright. I promise." Mikey whispered as he ran one of his hands through her hair. "Donny took good care of your sister. She'll be fine."

"But……I can't imagine losing all of my family in a single night! Mikey what would you do if it was Leonardo lying there?"

"I don't know what I would do if it were Leo, but I know what I would do if it were Raph."

"Huh?" Pearl pulled back to look at Mikey's face.

"Raph got hurt really bad once. He was out for weeks. We just took care of him until he was better."

"How did he get that hurt?" Pearl asked Mikey, but before he could answer, Raph cut in.

"I was in a motorcycle accident. No big deal and Mikey, you didn't 'take care' of me, you annoyed the shell outta me." Raph glared at Mikey.

"GAH!!!" Came a yell from the other room.

"Looks like she's awake now." Don stood up. "I'll go see how she's doing and give her some pain medication." He left the room and Raph took his vacated seat. Pearl stood up and ran into Cerina's room. Don was already fishing in his bag for the medicine and Leo was kneeling behind her, propping her head up. Pearl knelt at her sister's side.

"How are you?" she asked taking Cerina's other hand (Leo still had one.).

"In pain." Cerina replied through gritted teeth.

"That'll be fixed in a moment." Don said as he pulled out a syringe full of pain medication. "How are you with needles?"

"Fine, just give it to me." Cerina whispered and Leo put a hand on her forehead. Don stuck the needle into her shoulder and gave her the shot. Pearl almost began to cry again. She had never seen her sister show this much pain before; even when Artanis broke almost every bone in her left arm.

"Um…guys, could I talk to Cerina alone for a moment? If anything happens, I'll yell for you."

"Sure." Don said as he grabbed his bag.

"Make sure she doesn't try to sit up yet. 'K?" Leo stood up as well, gently placing Cerina's head back on her pillow. They left the room, sort of. Leo stayed just outside the door, listening.

"Cerina, you wouldn't be milking this 'I'm in pain' thing would you?"

"Well," Cerina smiled "maybe just a little…"

"A little my ass. How bad is it really?" Pearl smiled at her sister.

"Bad enough that I really needed that shot from Donatello."

"And sympathy from Leonardo." Pearl laughed.

"That too." Cerina moved her hand down to her wound. "Where is he?"

"Artanis?" A dark look shadowed Pearl's face.

"Who else?"

"He…um…he's gone." Pearl whispered.

"Where?"

"He…committed seppuku."

"Really?" Cerina sat up but winced and fell back down.

"Yes, but don't sound so excited. We are probably going to get evicted and we'll have no where to go."

"Then we'll come to that when we get there." Cerina sighed, "Now we can be friends with the Jones' and not get into trouble."

"That _is_ a good thing, but it doesn't change that fact that we have no money and most likely no place to live.

"Correction. _You'll_ have no money. I've never had _any_ money." Cerina rolled onto her side. "Mikey and Raphael are here also aren't they?"

"Yes."

"Good…Pearl…I…I love you…so…much…" Cerina fell asleep. Pearl got up and walked out of the room. As she slid the door shut, Leo slipped back into the shadows so he wouldn't be seen. She walked down the hall and into the living room. Mikey held his arms open for her and she slid into them.

"Is she alright?" He asked as he wrapped his arms around her.

"She's asleep now. Thank you Donny."

"No problem." Don whispered in reply.

"I hate to say this bro, but we gotta get back. Uh…Casey'll wunderin' where we ran of to." Raph said as he stood up.

"You're right Raph. I'm sorry Pearl, but we do need to go." Leo said as he walked into the room. "Call us if you need anything. Alright?"

"Right."

"I'll call the authorities, have them come and clean up Artanis's body. When they come, tell them your sister's sick, you had to work and when you came home, you found him dead in his study."

"That makes sense. Thank you so much, for everything." Pearl said. Raph, Don, and Leo left the room. Mikey; however, leaned over and pressed his lips against Pearl's neck.

"Don't worry too much. She'll be fine." Mikey pulled away, winked, and left the apartment after his brothers. Pearl fell back on the couch and tried to breath.

Back in the lair, Splinter was sparing with Leo. Leo ran at Splinter, one katana out and held ready. He swung at Splinter, faster then his watching brothers could see. Splinter held up his stick, blocked the swing, and threw Leo back into a pillar. Leo swung his katana and blocked a blow from Splinter, knocking him back as well.

"Leonardo, draw your other katana. Come at me again." Splinter said as he flipped back and regained his balance. Leo drew his second katana and took up and offensive stance. "My son, attack!" Leo ran at Splinter again. This time he jumped and flipped over Splinter, smacking him on the back with the broad end of the katana as he flipped up right. Splinter spun around and knocked Leo off balance. "You seem distracted Leonardo. What is wrong?" Master Splinter asked as he turned to face his eldest son.

"I'm sorry sensei. I'm just worried Cerina and Pearl."

"Those two girls you were fighting over?"

"Yes," Leo said as his brothers joined him in front of their father.

"What is wrong now?"

"Well, it's a long story…" replied Don.

"It is a long night. Please explain."

"Do you really wanna know?" Mikey asked.

"Seems as it has all four of you worried, I would assume it is bad." Splinter walked over to the old sofa and sat down. "Please my sons, tell your father."

The others listened as Don explained everything; meeting them at school, the old newspaper articles, and about tonight. Master Splinter remained silent through out this tale; only clearing his throat when Mikey and Raph started arguing about when they saved the girls from the Purple Dragons. Leo hovered behind Don, his hand on his shell cell in case something should happen. When Don finished, Master Splinter had one question.

"Will these girls be able to stay in their apartment?"

"We don't know." Leo answered. "I was going to wait until Monday when we would see them at school."

"If they even show up." Raph added.

"If that happens, then I'll go find them." Leo said as he knelt beside Splinter. "Father, what do you suggest we do? If they have no place to go."

"I do not know my son. I will meditate on it tonight." Splinter placed his hands on Leo's "Come here my sons." When they stepped forward, Splinter pulled them all into a hug. "I am proud of all of you. You have followed you hearts and trusted your minds." Splinter pulled back and stood up. "Good night, my sons." And with that, he disappeared into his room.

Leo sighed as he stood up. "What do you three think we should do?"

"You're askin' us, oh fearless leader?" Raph shot.

"Raph, cool it, this is serious." Don put his hand on Raph's shoulder.

"I think they should stay here. With us." Mikey put in. "Please?"

"Great thinkin' Mikey." Raph said with a touch of sarcasm. "We'll just come right out and tell them we're actually giant walkin' talkin' turtles."

"Actually Raph, Mikey's had a great idea." Leo walked over to stand between Raph and Mikey…again. "April and Casey don't seem to mind and Pearl and Cerina didn't scream out when they saw us tonight."

"Leo, can we discuss this more in the morning?" Don asked as he ran at the wall, scaled it, and flipped over the upper railing. Raph and Mikey followed Don. Leo; however, knelt down next to the sofa and shifted to his human form. He stared at his hands, which still had Cerina's blood on them.


	4. Chapter 4

Chapter 4

The following Monday, the four brothers walked into their math class and took their seats. They quietly waited until the bell rang. The girls didn't show up and fifteen minutes into class, they still didn't show. Leo glanced at his brothers; they all made eye contact, gathered their things, stood up, and left without a word. Once they were out in the hallway, they ran to Don's car, got in, and drove off in silence. They parked in front of the girls' apartment and ran to the door. Don punched in Cerina's code and they ran to the elevator.

When they entered the girls' apartment they saw Cerina sitting in a chair in the kitchen, she was hunched over and holding her side in pain. Pearl was sitting next to her with her forehead in her hand. Across the table from them was a grumpy, stern looking old man; the room was silent. Mikey came bouncing up behind Pearl and wrapped his arms around her.

"Helllooo beautiful!" he said with a smile on his face.

"Oh, hi Mikey. This is Mr. Braxton. He's our lawyer. Mr. Braxton, these are our best friends." Pearl introduced everyone; Cerina didn't look like she was in the best mood.

"Ahem, I take it that this young man is _more_ then a best friend." Mr. Braxton said as he looked from Pearl to Mikey.

"He just likes to tease me. There's nothing going on here." Pearl said with a blush.

"Although you wish there was…" Cerina whispered through her teeth.

"Ahem, let's get back to business shall we?" Mr. Braxton folded his hands on the table.

"Sure." Cerina winced as she tried to sit up straight.

"Now, in your adoptive father's will, it says that he wants everything but a few items sold or given to charity." Mr. Braxton began as he shuffled through his briefcase. "Those few items are yours. To Pearl he's left a beach house and all its contents, $5,000 and his collection of projectiles."

"Whoa! A beach house?" Mikey exclaimed as he leaned forward "Where is it?"

"Florida." Mr. Braxton replied as he pulled out a picture.

"Wait, he's left that to me?" Pearl asked.

"Apparently so. It was supposed to be a present for your eighteenth birthday. It's already paid off." Mr. Braxton slid the picture over. It was a large, beautiful white house set above a private cove. It was complete with a swimming pool, hot tub, outside game court, balcony, and stairs down to the beach. Pearl couldn't believe it. Artanis had actually built her a beach house. When he had asked her what she wanted, she only said it as a joke. Cerina grabbed the picture away from Pearl and Mikey.

"He built this for her eighteenth birthday? What did he do for mine…forget again?" Cerina put the picture back down on the table.

"Actually, he's left you his own katanas." Mr. Braxton reached down by his feet, picked them up, and set them on the table. Leo gasped as he stepped forward.

"Holy shell…" He walked around the table to stand by Cerina, he just looked at her, and she could read the look on his face. She nodded and Leo picked one up. He ran his hands down the blood-red scabbard. "How old are these? They look like they are from the Feudal Era."

"It says here that they were crafted by his great-great grandfather who lived in Japan during the Feudal Age." Mr. Braxton slid the paper across the table but Leo didn't pick it up; he drew out the blade a few inches to see his deep green eyes reflected off of the steel. He sheathed it and set it back on the table.

"What else did he leave for Cerina?" Leo asked as he sat next to Cerina.

"Let me see…" Mr. Braxton shuffled through his papers for a moment, "I don't see anything. I guess that the katanas are the only thing that he left her." He folded his hands on the table again.

"I have a rather important question to ask." Cerina spoke up before Leo and Don could argue with the lawyer, "Will Pearl and I be able to stay here?"

"That depends on how well you can make the payments."

"How much money is it?" Pearl asked, ready to use her $5,000.

"About eight hundred dollars a month, and that's just the rent. That's not the utilities."

"What!?" Pearl almost stood up, "That's insane!"

"I'm sorry Miss. Orphen, but that's what it costs. Now if you have no more questions, I have another meeting to go to." Mr. Braxton didn't wait for the girls' reply; he gathered his briefcase, walked across the house, and just as he was about to go into the elevator, he stopped. "If you're not going to stay here, you need to be out by tomorrow night." With that, he turned and left.

"Great, Cerina, what'll we do?" Pearl slouched down in her chair.

"Leave by tomorrow night. What other choice do we have?" Cerina stood up and faced her sister and friends.

"Wait, what about the beach house? Didn't he say that it was already paid for? It's prefect! You can get a job to pay for the utilities and I can party!" Pearl was overly excited about this idea.

"Pearl….no…" Cerina smacked her younger sister upside the head.

"Why not?" Pearl rubbed the back of her head.

"I'm not going to work all day to pay bills for YOUR house while you play. Besides, the only time I want to go down to Florida is in the fall, while it's cold up here."

"Your right…." Pearl sighed.

"Well, seems as none of us are in school today…why don't we go out?" Don suggested.

"That's a great idea!!" Mikey jumped to his feet, "Where should we go?"

"I say we go to a movie." Raph came over to help Pearl stand up. Mikey growled under his breath at this and made fists. Pearl blushed as she took Raph's hand.

"What movie are we gonna go see?" Cerina asked as she held her breath during a sudden wave of pain in her gut.

"I say we go see a scary movie." Raph smiled as he kept one of Pearl's hands. Mikey, not able to stand it, smacked Raph on the back of the head and wrapped his arms around Pearl's waist.

"Yeah!" Mikey and Pearl said together.

"I'll go for that." Don pushed away from the counter he was leaning against.

"Sweet! I wanna drive!" Mikey yelled as he grabbed Pearl's hand and ran to the elevator.

"No you won't!" Raph ran after them.

"Cerina, are you sure you want to go?" Leo asked, holding up half her weight. "You seem very weak."

"I'm fine, plus if I don't go...Pearl will have all four of you to herself! I can't let that happen."

"Alright." Leo and Cerina began to walk to the elevator.

"If you need any pain med…I've got the first aid kit in the trunk." Don said as he moved to the other side of Cerina.

"Donatello…"

"Just call me Don."

"Right. Don, why do you always have a first aid kit with you? And why are you so good at giving stitches?" Cerina asked

"My brothers are….somewhat reckless and are always getting hurt. I figure, since I'm the smart one, I would have to take care of them."

"Why? Can't you just take them to the doctor?" Cerina asked as the elevator began moving down.

"We….don't have a lot of money." Don moved to stand between Leo and Cerina. His hand ended up 'accidentally' holding hers.

"That makes sense." The elevator stopped and they walked outside the building with Don still holding Cerina's hand. "Great…" Cerina sighed as they got outside. Raph was sitting on top of Mikey, pinning him to the ground. Pearl was laughing uncontrollably as Mikey was repeating 'mercy' as fast as he could.

"Raph, get off your brother. You're attracting attention." Leo walked over and grabbed Raph's shoulder and pulled him up; Don came over and pulled Mikey up.

"Before you ask…you can't drive." Don said as he got in the driver's seat.

"Donny…you're no fun." Mikey wined as he got into the middle of the back of the car.

"Um…there isn't enough room for all of us to fit." Pearl said as she watched Raph and Cerina fill the seats on either side of Mikey. Leo sat in the front passenger.

"I gotta solution." Raph reached out of the car, grabbed Pearl's hand, and pulled her into the car—sitting on his lap.

"Hey!" Mikey put his hand on Pearl's thigh and scooted her over so she was sitting half on Mikey and half on Raph.

"Well, are we ready to go?" Don asked as he started the car.

"Of course." Cerina answered as she glanced at the three next to her. She was feeling very squished as Don merged into traffic. They made their way to the nearest movie theater and bought their tickets. The seating went like this: Don, Cerina, Leo, Mikey, Pearl, and Raph. When the lights went down Don put his arm around Cerina's shoulders and Leo held her hand. Pearl took one of Mikey's hands in both of hers—scooting away from Raph who had his hand on her knee.

When the movie was over, they went to Panda Express for lunch then spent the rest of the day playing in Central Park. And—for dinner—Leo shocked the girls by cooking an amazing meal in the girls' apartment. They played more games and talked until three in the morning.

The next day, the six of them walked into ceramics. They had graduated from hand modeling to working with a spinner's wheel. Cerina and Leo sighed as they spotted the watery, muddy clay they were to use and Don suddenly wished he didn't have to sit by Mikey and Pearl.

"Leonardo, how mad was your uncle last night?" Cerina asked as they tied on their aprons.

"Not really. He's actually used to us staying out all night." Leo said as he boldly took the seat next to Mikey so he could spare Don.

"Why's that?" Cerina sat by him with Don on her other side.

"Um…our job…we have to stay out pretty late on some nights." Don quickly put in as he eyed his brothers.

"Oh, where do you work?" Pearl asked not knowing why she became nervous as Raph sat down next to her.

"Just an old club. It's gonna be shut down soon." Raph said as he slapped some clay onto his wheel.

"Really, which one?" Cerina asked suspiciously.

"English Bodi…" Don was already finished with the base of his pot.

"Is that so?" Cerina glanced and Pearl who smiled mischievously. "How come I've never seen you there before?"

"What?" Leo didn't look up to see the smirk on Cerina's face.

"How come Pearl and I've never seen you at English Bodi before? You could say that we're regulars."

"Really?" Mikey asked as he looked up and caught Cerina's face.

"Yeah." Cerina started her own pot.

"When are you there?" Mikey asked, not understanding the look that passed between Pearl and Cerina.

"We are there Mondays, Wednesdays and Fridays; sometimes Saturday and Sunday nights as well."

"Why so often?" Don didn't look up either.

"We work there also." Pearl said as she tried to hold back her laughter.

"Okay, so we don't work at that club, but we want to." Raph said, covering for all of them. "Plus that's our cover for Uncle Casey."

"Right." Cerina and Pearl burst out laughing and didn't stop until the teacher made them go out into the hallway.

In gym, it was free day because the coach decided that he wanted to watch a movie instead of going to class. The six friends played Egyptian Rat Screw with Raph's cards. When they went to the courtyard for lunch, the four brothers were looking very tired.

"Hey…are you guys alright?" Pearl asked, putting a finger on Mikey's cheek "you all look very pale."

"We're fine." Don said as he put his pack down by a cracked marble statue of an angle.

"Brothers, may I speak with you for a moment?" Leo took a step towards the ivy covered pathway; he brothers stood and followed.

"We won't be long." Mikey stood and ran after his brothers. Once they had disappeared behind the ivy, Cerina turned to Pearl.

"I have a suspicion. Remember that night when…we were saved by four huge turtles?" Cerina whispered.

"Yes, I couldn't forget."

"I've been thinking that maybe, just maybe, those turtles could become human."

"And…?" Pearl looked confused.

"And would go to school like any other teen."

"Your point?"

"Think, I know it's difficult to remember that night, the turtle that said your name…does he seem familiar?"

"Yes."

"Who does he remind you of?"

"Um….Mikey I guess…."

"Exactly. I think the four turtles and our four friends are the same!" It was getting hard to continue to whisper.

"How would you prove this?" Pearl looked doubtfully at her sister.

"Remember when Artanis came home early? One minute all four of them were standing next to me, and the next they were gone. I didn't even hear them leave and you've told me that I have the best hearing of anyone you know."

"I remember that."

"The first time Leonardo and Mikey took us home from school, Leonardo put our packs in the trunk. When he got them out, I saw ninja weapons and masks in the back."

"I remember seeing them also."

"Let's spy on them."

"I don't think we should Cerina."

"Just call it a recon mission if it makes you feel better."

"…Do you think it'll be okay?"

"They're not gonna find out!" Cerina got up and quietly walked over to the ivy with Pearl right behind her. Cerina cautiously pulled back some of the ivy leaves and, as she did, they saw a very faint green glow and when it faded, the four boys were standing there.

"That was too close Leo." Don whispered.

"I know, we weren't thinking last night. Staying out for so long as humans." Leo put his hand on his forehead.

"But man was it worth it!!!" Mikey raised both of his fists into the air.

"Mikey, would you shut up?" Raph punched Mikey's shoulder.

"Oh, you're just jealous because Pearl likes me and not you!" Mikey teased.

"Mikey…" Raph warned as he cracked his knuckles.

"Both of you be quiet! We can't let them know we're turtles yet." Don adjusted the collar of his shirt. When he said this Cerina glanced at Pearl. Just then Pearl poked her eye with a stick.

"OWW!!" Pearl covered her eye.

"Pearl…you idiot…" Cerina sighed as she shook her head. The brothers came around the corner, shock on their faces.

"Did you guys see—or hear—anything?" Don asked.

"Yes, we heard and saw everything." Pearl said, she was still covering her eye.

"Are you sure about that Pearl?" Raph asked.

"Can we see you change again?" Cerina stifled a giggle.

Leo looked at his brothers, "Why not? We could use another break." Leo took Cerina's hand and pulled her back into the ivy-covered walkway.

"C'mon. We shouldn't let those two be alone in the dark." Raph said as he followed Leo.

"Raph, that wasn't funny!" Don ran after them followed by Mikey and Pearl.

Once they were in the shadows and ivy, the four brothers glowed the faint green and—starting with their heads—changed into four tall, walking, talking turtles. The only _real_ way to tell them apart was by the masks they were wearing; Don's was purple, Raph's was red, Leo's was blue (Cerina's favorite color), and Mikey's was orange (Pearl's favorite color). The girls stared at the four turtles in shock. Pearl cautiously walked up to Mikey, bent down, and looked at his butt.

"Where's your tail?" she innocently asked, "Is that it?"

"GAH! No, that's something else. I…uh…don't have a tail." Mikey waved his hand in front of Pearl's face. "Pearl, please stop staring at my butt." Mikey turned his back against the wall as Pearl stood up and smiled at Mikey.

Cerina was staring at Leo with a look that could be described as amusement, shock, or wonder. She squealed and threw her arms around Leo. "YOU ARE SO CUTE!!!" she nuzzled her face against his plastron. Before anyone could react beyond a weird look, the bell rang for seventh period to start.

"I really don't feel like going to study hall." Leo said as he turned his face to hid a blush from his brothers and put his arms around Cerina.

"Leo…not wanting to go to class? This has got to be a first." Don glared at his older brother but his face softened as he saw Cerina's happy face.

"Pearl!" Mikey put his hand on Pearl's shoulder and pushed her way from his shell; she had been poking it. "Do you have any idea how bad that tickles?" He nudged her towards Raph, "Go poke his shell."

"Who's there?" Came a call from the center of the courtyard. This happened to be one of the rare instances that a janitor actually came in the courtyard.

"Hide." Don whispered and the four brothers were gone before he'd even finished the word.

"Cerina, help me." Pearl whispered, now scared. Her Ninjutsu skills weren't the best. Cerina grabbed Pearl's hand and they ran to the back of the walkway. Cerina quietly pushed Pearl into some thick ivy and pulled some vines over her. She had no idea where the turtles were and hoped that one of them wasn't in there. The janitor's footsteps were getting louder as Cerina spotted a small opening in the ivy. She jumped through and flipped up onto the terrace only to find that Don was already up there as a human. He pressed a finger to his lips and he nestled down into the ivy. Cerina did the same as the old janitor looked into the walkway and searched the rest of the courtyard. When he didn't find anything he left muttering.

Raph jumped down from a tree, Leo came out of the ivy and Mikey sat up out of the almost empty pond; they were still turtles. Leo came over to help Cerina get down from the terrace; she just smiled and jumped down—landing with ease, one leg bent under her and the other straight out. Don flipped down, landing silently as he changed back into a turtle. Leo was about to say something when Pearl's voice came to them.

"CERINA!!! I'm stuck, I can't get out!!!"

"Pearl…I'll be back. She's hopeless." Cerina sighed, jumped on top of the ivy, and slid down through the hole.

"Leo…can we go scare them?" Mikey whispered, grabbing Leo's shoulder. "We can call it stealth training."

"Alright; Raph, you'll climb on top of the ivy and, on my signal, you'll come down through the hole. Mikey, you'll climb along the ivy—on the top of the inside—and flip down on my signal. Don, you'll push through the ivy with me. Ready?" Leo spoke quickly as his brothers nodded. They disappeared, got in position, and jumped in on Leo's signal. Pearl, who had just gotten herself unstuck from the ivy, screamed and fell on her butt. Cerina; however, flipped over the top of Mikey. She grabbed his arm, twisted it, and flung him to the ground; she was still twisting his arm around behind him, and she was sitting on his carpace. Everyone except Pearl was shocked.

"OW! Mercy, mercy, mercy! Please, mercy! I like my arm. I want to keep my arm!" Mikey begged, pounding on the ground with his other hand. Cerina leaned down and whispered in Mikey's ear.

"I heard you coming Michelangelo." She stood up and helped Mikey stand up.

"How did you know we were coming?" Raph asked looking at Cerina in shock. He figured she was good…but she was better then he thought.

"I heard Mikey climbing in the ivy and I figured the rest of you wouldn't be far behind."

"Where did you learn to do that?" Don acted like he didn't know that move.

"Don't even give me that Donatello." Cerina put her finger on Don's nose, "I know you are all ninja."

"Really, is it that obvious?" Leo asked in shock.

"It wasn't that hard to figure out. I saw your weapons and you can become invisible almost instantly. Seeing you now, like this…where you're practically naked…your muscle development and tone gives it away."

"You could tell all that?" Now Pearl was confused, "How…huh?"

Cerina laughed. "Sis, if you would get your head out of the clouds and back down to Earth for a minute, you would have seen it too."

"Okay, now that that is out of the way I'm changing the subject. Cerina, have you found a place to stay yet?" Leo took a few steps closer to Cerina.

"Pearl did you know that the new Assassin's game comes out soon." Cerina said as she turned to face Pearl.

"Really?" she asked "When was it—"

"Cerina, don't change the subject." Leo cut Pearl off. "Where are you going to stay?"

"Er…we don't…we don't know…" Cerina couldn't hold Leo's gaze, she looked down. Leo looked around at his brothers. They nodded and Leo sighed. He closed his eyes for a minute and hoped that Master Splinter wouldn't have his head for what he was about to offer.

"Cerina…I'm sure it would be alright with our father if you stayed with us." Leo closed his eyes, waiting for Cerina to reject his offer. What she said completely threw Leo off his guard.

"I'd really appreciate that Leonardo." Cerina took his hand and Leo couldn't measure the gratitude in her eyes.

"You'd really let us?" Pearl looked from Leo to Mikey then back to Leo.

"I'm sure that Splinter wouldn't mind." Raph moved forward and placed his hand on Pearl's waist. She jumped and slid in closer to Mikey; who glared at Raph as he placed his own arm around Pearl's shoulder.

"Wait, Splinter? I thought that Casey was…" Cerina looked confused.

"That's just a cover for school. Casey's just a really good friend of ours. We really live down in the sewers. A little bit past the old junction." Don explained.

"So…is this Splinter…a turtle too?" Pearl asked Mikey.

"No, he's actually……a giant rat." Mikey replied.

"Okay, so how has all this happened?" Cerina was still holding Leo's hand.

"Our mutation?" Don asked and Cerina nodded. "I can explain that. About seventeen years ago—give or take a few months—we were exposed to radioactive ooze. Master Splinter found us and took us in; he was just a normal sewer rat and we were just baby turtles. We grew very large and intelligent very fast. Master Splinter taught us in the art of Ninjutsu, which he learned from his human Master, Himato Yoshi." Don finished.

"A human taught a rat Ninjutsu?" Pearl innocently asked.

"Not really. Splinter was Master Yoshi's pet; Splinter copied Yoshi's movements from his cage." Leo explained.

"That makes sense." Cerina looked at Don and took a stealthy step closer to Leo.

"No it doesn't…" Pearl whispered and Mikey laughed.

"So, are we just gonna stand here all day or go see Master Splinter?" Raph said as he turned back into a human. Cerina looked up for a moment.

"I really want to meet Master Splinter. Would he mind if we just showed up during school?" Cerina asked.

"I don't think he would mind if he knew the situation." Don looked at his brothers. Mikey was smiling, Raph shrugged his shoulders, and Leo just stood there. "Well, let's go then."

As they walked out of the ivy, the other three boys turned into humans. Leo kept Cerina's hand while Mikey kept his arm around Pearl's shoulders. They snuck back into the school, ran through the hall and out to Don's car. They got in the car in almost the same positions as before except Raph was driving, Mikey was in the front passenger's seat, and Cerina was sitting on Don and Leo next to Pearl. As Raph pulled out of the parking lot, Don turned to Leo.

"If this is going to keep happening I'm gonna need to build a bigger car." They rode in silence for a while when Pearl leaned forward.

"So…um…if you live in the sewers, but you have a car…where do you keep the car?" she asked.

"There is an opening from our…home into an old warehouse. There is sorta an elevator between street level and our home." Raph explained as he pulled into an alley and pushed a button on the dashboard. In front of them, a door into a warehouse opened and Raph pulled in. Once the car stopped, they all got out and Don went over to a central panel. He pressed a few buttons and an egg-shaped thing came up out of the floor. It was made of light brown stone and had light blue designs on it. Pearl screamed and hid behind Mikey who was a turtle again.

"What is it?" she asked.

"Our way home." Mikey said as he laughed and took her arm. The rest of the boys were turtles again as they climbed into the egg-elevator. As it began to move, Cerina moved a little closer to Leo, she was nervous to meet Splinter. He was a Master of Ninjutsu and the last Master she had was…a little harsh. Leo could sense that she was scared and he put his arm around her waist as the doors opened.

Pearl gasped at the sight of the many TVs that were stacked against one wall. Oh the video games she could play on those TVs. Cerina stared at all the training equipment and the huge dojo in the other room. After giving the girls a moment to take it all in, they moved out of the elevator and down into the lair. Master Splinter came out of his room holding a tray containing the remains of tea. When he saw the girls clinging onto his sons, he dropped the tray and stood frozen. Mikey walked forward a few steps, pulling Pearl along with him.

"Hi Master Splinter!" he said cheerfully as he bowed.

"My…sons…why are you home so early?" Splinter asked looking from Mikey to Pearl then to Mikey.

"We need to talk to you Master." Leo took a step forward and bowed as well.

"You are not…they are not pregnant are they?" Splinter gave Leo a stern look. Raph and Don bit their fingers to keep from laughing. Mikey looked back to Leo, expecting him to explain things.

"No Master. These are the girls we told you about. This is Serenity and Pearl Orphen." Leo pointed to each in turn. Cerina walked forward and bowed in front of Master Splinter.

"Master Splinter, it is an honor to meet you. Please forgive us if we are intruding, but Leonardo has told us that we could stay here seems as we have lost our home."

Splinter stared at her for a moment before returning her bow. "Please stay as long as you need to. If Leonardo trusts you, then you have my trust as well." He bent down, gathered his tray, and left into the kitchen. Once he had gone, Mikey grabbed onto Pearl again and drug her over to the couch. Naturally, they started to play video games. Don sighed and left to his computer terminals. Raph went over to the couch, jumped over the back of it, and landed between Pearl and Mikey, his feet on the coffee table. Leo led Cerina up some stairs and into a room. It was empty except for a hammock on one side.

"You can stay here. This is our only spare room so I'm afraid you'll have to share with Pearl. We can put up another hammock if you want it." Leo said all of this as he turned on the light and moved into the middle of the room. "We can also put up curtains or Donny could rig up a door so you can have some privacy."

"Thank you so much, Leonardo. We really appreciate you kindness."

"Hey, it's not a problem. Oh, do you need help moving your things here?" Leo sat on the hammock.

"Sure, having another pair of hands will save me some time."

"Wasn't Pearl going to help you?"

"Yeah…but she wouldn't get that much done. She's easily distracted." Cerina shrugged her shoulders.

"Good point." Leo stood up and held out his arm for Cerina. "Shall we?"

"Yep!" Cerina smiled as she took his arm. They left the lair through the elevator, Leo picking up Don's keys on the way out.

They got back about an hour later. When they walked into the lair carrying two boxes each, no one even noticed them come in. They walked up the stairs and into the girls' room. Leo set down his boxes then helped Cerina set down hers.

"Do you want help unpacking?" Leo asked.

"No, I'm fine. Plus there isn't all that much here. Why don't you go play that game with Mikey, Raph, and Pearl? It looks like they could use one more person." Cerina bent down by one of the boxes.

"Alright, but if you need any help, just yell okay?" Leo walked to the door.

"'K." Cerina said over her shoulder as she opened one of the boxes. It was full of Pearl's things and she slid it over to the hammock. She also did this with the next two boxes. The fourth and last box was Cerina's; inside were Artanis's katanas, the photo album their mother left them, a few clothes and her beloved laptop. She picked up one of the katanas and drew it. As she did, a letter fell out of the scabbard. It was folded really small so it could fit. She bent down, picked it up, and unfolded it. On the front of the hand-made paper was her full name written in crimson ink with Artanis's eloquent hand. She held her breath as she opened the envelop and began to read:

_Serenity,_

_My dear girl, I hope you are having a wonderful 18__th__ birthday. I hope you'll understand why it is so hard for me to write this letter to you. I have a confession to make. I am not sure if you have figured it out or not, but your father, Haru, did not commit suicide. He was murdered…by me and I regret that action every time I look at you. You, my dearest Serenity, look just like him. You have his eyes, hair, face and his attitude. You talk like him, fight like him, argue like him, and you are a fierce—but compassionate—friend, just as he was. I am so sorry about what I have done to you. Everyday I wish I could reverse my actions and give you back your father. But, I also wish that, in time, you can forgive me and—maybe—think of me as a father. I know it will be difficult, but please try. _

_Another thing, before I end this letter Serenity…I love you. I am truly sorry that I have been so hard on you. It is just that I knew your father so well; I was his best friend and, as I have already said, you have his attitude. There were so many times when we got into trouble because of his attitude, but he was always able to get us out of trouble again, and I wish to teach you how to control your emotions so that you may become as level-headed and intelligent as Haru. I was only trying to protect you and give you a channel for the anger that I have seen in your heart. I know it came off that I only loved Pearl, but Serenity, I have always thought of you as my own daughter. I am so proud of you, and I would trust you with my life. Please accept these katanas as a token of my love and my admiration of you. _

_ Always your loving father,_

_Artanis_

_p.s. You are honorable, loyal, compassionate, and humble. You will make an exceptional leader someday. And—when you do—remember what I have taught you about the connection between the mind, body, and spirit. Serenity, please forgive me for all that I have done. I shall miss you my dear, sweet Serenity._

Cerina fell to her knees and stared at the letter. Artanis was…proud of her? She thought she must be hallucinating so she read the letter again. This time, she noticed that the postscript was written in black ink and looked to be added some time after the letter was originally written. Artanis had been planning on giving her his katanas for almost a year now. She read the letter a third and fourth time. She began to regret the rude things she had said to him. Now that she thought about it, she did think of Artanis as a father. She didn't hate him for what he had done to her real father. She was upset and wished that he hadn't done that, but now she knew that he had loved her, even if he didn't show it very often. She stood up, knowing what she must do; Cerina wiped away her tears and she went into Don's 'workshop'.

"Hey, could I borrow some of your tools and materials?" she asked, standing in the doorway.

"Yeah, do you need help with anything?" Don said as he turned around to face Cerina. "You look like you've been crying. Is everything alright?"

"Yep, I just need to make something. Don't let anybody bother me 'k?"

"I'm sure they won't even notice. They're to busy playing their game." Don turned back to his computer as Cerina walked up next to him.

"Thanks Donny!" Cerina leaned in and kissed his cheek. Before he could say anything, she left the side of his terminal, and walked to the back of the room where Don kept all of his unfinished inventions. She looked around for a while until she had everything she needed. She set to work measuring things out on metal and wood, occasionally running out of the 'workshop' and into her room then back. Once she had all the numbers right, she went to work building her creation. From the shadows of a different doorway, Master Splinter watched her work.

She worked for more then two hours, accidentally cutting herself with the saw and burning herself with the welder. Despite that she kept working, ignoring the pain in her gut, and paying no heed to the blood running from her cuts. When she was done, Cerina covered her creation with an old blanket and left the room. She looked down from the second floor to see Leo and Raph arguing while playing Super Smash Brothers; Mikey and Pearl were playing cards at the table. No one noticed her as she walked through the room and out of the lair. Once she was on the surface, she ran the rooftops; this time, she knew where she was going.

About fifteen minutes after Cerina left, Pearl stood up and walked through the lair. "Cerina! Where are you?" She called out after a few minutes. Mikey helped her look for another half an hour and, when they were sure that Cerina wasn't there, they sat on the couch with Leo and Raph.

"What's up?" Raph asked when Pearl sighed.

"Cerina disappeared again." Pearl mumbled.

"Again? Does she do it often?" Leo asked pausing the game when Raph was just about to hit his guy.

"She does this ALL the time. She'll disappear for hours without any warning. I figured she wouldn't do this anymore now that Artanis is gone." Pearl curled her feet and legs under herself.

"That sounds like someone we know." Don called down from the second floor. He'd come out to get food.

"Shut up, Don!" Raph snarled as he smacked Leo's arm to get him to unpause the game.

"I'm just saying that she reminds me of you Raph." Don had jumped over the railing and landed lightly on his feet. As he walked into the kitchen Leo handed the controller to Mikey.

"Hey, Mike, take over for me. I just remembered something." Leo vaulted over the back of the couch, and Mikey stared after him as he jumped up to the second floor. Mikey saw him go to Cerina's room when Raph's voice cut across his thoughts.

"Earth to Mikey, I'm kickin' your trash." Raph smacked Mikey's knee and Mikey went back to the game.

Upstairs, Leo leaned against the doorway and silently watched Cerina set down her creation. As she took the blanket off, Leo was stunned by the intricate gold and silver designs on a low wooden table. Built into the table were three candleholders and three spots for incense.

Cerina adjusted the table, knelt by her bag and pulled out two pictures and two frames of different sizes. Into the larger of the frames she placed a picture of two young boys. They were both smiling and looking happy, one looked exactly like Cerina, and Leo guessed that the boys were her father and Artanis when they were teenagers. She set down the frame on the left of table, between two candleholders.

Cerina picked up the smaller frame and placed another picture inside. This picture was of a young Asian woman; she was standing in front of a traditional Japanese house surrounded by Sakura trees. She was wearing a traditional kimono and had striking emerald green eyes and long white hair. Leo figured that this must be the girls' mother seems as she looked a lot like Pearl.

Cerina set this frame down on the right of the table. She struck a match and lit three candles, placing one in front of each person. She then sat down as if she was going to meditate, and—almost reverently—pulled out three sticks of incense from her bag. She lit the first and placed it in front of Artanis's picture and the sent of rosemary filled the room. This was followed by vanilla (placed in front of her father) and roses (placed in front of her mother). Leo left the doorway as Cerina began to meditate, a tear on her cheek.

When Cerina opened her eyes almost an hour later, she looked around the room and saw another hammock hanging from two walls. She must have really been out of it; she hadn't heard Raph and Leo setting it up. She stood, stretched out her back, and walked out of the room and down to the couch. It was now very late and Pearl had fallen asleep on the couch, curled up in a ball. Cerina smiled and bent to pick up her sister when Mikey pushed in front of her, and picked up Pearl in cradle.

"Where do you want her?" Mikey whispered as he held Pearl close to him.

"I guess in the hammock on the right." Cerina reached forward and held onto Mikey's right elbow, "This is your right Mikey."

"Be nice Cerina. I'm a busy turtle; I don't have time to remember trivial things like that." Mikey teased as he headed off to the stairs. As he disappeared Don came over, pressing his fingers into his skin where his neck and shoulders meet.

"Did you get everything up there sorted out?" he asked as he sat on the floor in front of the couch, pushing the coffee table back a few inches.

"Yes…hey, does your shoulder hurt?" Cerina sat on the couch next to Don.

"Yeah, but it'll be fine. Master Splinter made us switch weapons and train as humans again. I never really knew it took so much wrist and shoulder strength to use double katanas." Don switched to rub the other shoulder.

"Do you want me to rub your shoulders?" Cerina placed a hand on his shoulder.

"Uh…I don't think that'll help…" Don was glad that Cerina couldn't see his face; he was blushing at the thought of Cerina giving him a massage.

"Come on Donny, it's the least I can do. Plus it'll be my thanks for you letting me borrow your tools and stealing some of your materials. Please?"

"Fine…go ahead." Don couldn't resist the soft, pleading tone in Cerina's voice. She swung her leg over Don's head so she could reach he shoulders better. She put her hands on Don's neck and slowly started to massage out the knots; after a few moments Don sighed and relaxed more. As Cerina moved down to Don's shoulders he leaned his head back and closed his eyes. Cerina giggled, Don really was cute—in that sweet, nerdish way.

Leo walked out of the dojo to see Cerina and Don. Leo stopped and stared. He didn't…he thought Cerina was going to choose him, but this scene looked all to intimate. He decided to pop Don's bubble but before he could reach the couch Raph sat on the couch next to Cerina.

"Do I get to be next?" he asked "My back's killing me. Don, how can you swing that bo staff around so easily?"

"It just comes naturally Raph…" Don muttered; he was almost asleep.

"Hey guys." Leo came and sat on the other side of Cerina, "Do you have any idea how late it is?"

"It's almost midnight." Raph said as he arched his back—trying to unknot it a little before changing back into a turtle, and hoping Cerina would take pity on him also.

"Very good Raph, and what are you doing in English tomorrow?" Leo stretched out his legs.

"Ah shell!!!" Raph jumped to his feet and ran off to his room, jumping and flipping up to the second floor rather then using the stairs.

"What is Raphael doing in English tomorrow that we aren't?" Cerina asked as she took one of Don's wrists and began massaging it.

"He needs to make up the test for Unit 3…he sluffed with Casey that day." After Don said this he was out, snoring a little.

"Poor Donny…he always stays up late working on projects for weeks and then he just shuts down." Leo pushed his fingers into his wrist and tried to get a knot out of his muscle.

"Do you want me to do that?" Cerina gently laid down Don's arm.

"No, it's fine. It's late and both of us could use some sleep. Will you help me lift him up onto the couch?" Leo stood up with Cerina and lifted up Don's feet while Cerina lifted his shoulders. Once Don was comfortable on the couch Cerina put a blanket over him. Leo started off to his room.

"Leonardo…" Cerina took a step towards him.

"Yeah?" He didn't turn around.

"Er…Goodnight."

"G'night." He left to his room; Cerina sighed and went up to her room. When Cerina went in, the three candles she had previously lit were the only source of light. In the low, flickering light she saw Mikey and Pearl laying together on the hammock. Cerina would have been worried except Mikey was awake and on top of the blanket, while Pearl was asleep and under the blanket. Plus…Mikey probably wouldn't have been able to get his zipper down if anything did almost happen. When he saw her, Mikey sat up a little.

"I can leave if you want me to." He whispered.

"No, you're fine. Mikey, just do me one favor."

"What?"

"Don't you dare break her heart. Mikey, recently…she's had a hard time. Just promise me you won't push her. 'K?"

"I promise, Cerina. I wouldn't do anything to scare or hurt her." Mikey noticed Cerina raise an eyebrow at their position. "When I put the blanket on her, she grabbed my hand and mumbled something like 'Don't leave me, Mikey. I don't want nightmares tonight.' So I stayed" Mikey hoped Cerina wouldn't be mad at him.

"I believe you." Cerina sat in her hammock.

"You do?" Mikey asked a litter louder then he meant to—Pearl moaned and rolled over, burying her face in his plastron; he changed into a human so she would be more comfortable.

"Yeah, she's done it to me before also. It's just a small sign that she loves you." Cerina kicked off her shoes and laid back. "Goodnight Mikey." She whispered.

"G'night Cerina; don't let the bed….hammock bugs bite." Mikey mumbled; he was almost asleep as well.

Cerina chuckled. "I won't." as she closed her eyes she breathed in deeply, hoping that she could get some sleep tonight—and that Pearl wouldn't be haunted by the forgotten memories of their father's murder.


	5. Chapter 5

Chapter 5

The next four days passed without event. On Saturday night Master Splinter asked if he could speak with Cerina and Pearl. They sighed; they had just started watching Star Wars VI with Mikey and Don. They stood and followed Master Splinter anyway. Once they were in the training area he turned to face them.

"I understand that both of you have been studying Ninjutsu with Artanis."

"Yes only…Pearl didn't really study. She just watched me work." Cerina playfully pushed Pearl.

"Well, if it is alright with the both of you, I would like to further your training."

"Really?" Pearl was suddenly excited, maybe now she would be able to spar with Cerina. Pearl had always been a little on the weak side—physically—her spirit and will were very strong and, in times of need, had often made up for her lack of skill.

"Yes. Only I would like to test your skills first. Just to see how much work and time you will need."

"Alright, I'm game." Cerina stretched out her arms by locking her fingers behind her back and raising them into the air. The four boys stopped what they were doing so they could watch; they wanted to see how good the girls were. Splinter pointed to the weapon rack and told Cerina to choose her weapon. She walked over and picked up the two katanas that were there. She walked back to Splinter and bowed before him. He returned the bow and told her to attack him.

The four turtles were shocked that she didn't hesitate. She ran straight at him, faked a swing to the right, flipped over to the left, and knocked his leg out from under him. Splinter rolled to the side, stood and jump kicked—but Cerina blocked by dropping her katana and grabbing onto his foot. He spun himself around and kicked her face. She flipped backwards again, picking up the katana she dropped. He went to spin kick but his foot met air, he looked around but couldn't see Cerina. Even the turtles looked around for her. Just when Mikey was about to ask a stupid question, Cerina flipped down from the ceiling and swung her katanas at Splinter's neck. She stopped them right as they touched his fur—they didn't move at all, even when she gracefully landed, crouched on the floor. She stood up, keeping her blades next to Splinter's neck.

"Very good, Serenity. You have a natural talent." Splinter moved away from the blades and bowed. Cerina returned the bow and went to put her katanas away.

"Shell Leo, I bet she could even beat you!" Mikey whispered.

"It would seem as though Splinter has a new teacher's pet." Don looked at Leo, "Sorry bro, seems like you've been dethroned."

"Whatever…" Leo couldn't take his eyes off of Cerina.

"Pearl, it is your turn." Splinter motioned to the weapon rack but Pearl ran off to her room. When she came back, she didn't have any weapon in her hand.

"Pearl…where is your weapon?" Splinter asked.

"Hidden, just give me a target."

Splinter actually looked confused, "I do not understand."

"Master Splinter, my sister has the best aim I've ever seen. It truly makes up for her lack of other skills in fighting." Cerina put an arm around Pearl's shoulders.

"No way!" Mikey knelt on the couch, facing the girls and leaning on the back of the couch. "I don't believe it. There is absolutely no way she could have good aim!" Mikey pointed at Pearl as he said the last sentence.

"What makes you say that, Mikey?" Pearl twitched her had so slightly that only Cerina noticed. A throwing dagger fell into her hand.

"Well, in study hall yesterday, you threw a book at me and you were way off! You hit the kid six feet in front of me!" Mikey shrugged his shoulders, convinced he won the argument.

Faster then anyone could follow or believe (besides Cerina) Pearl threw her dagger at Mikey's head. Leo stuck out his hand on pure reflex and caught the dagger right before it embedded itself into Mikey's flesh…between his eyes. Mikey pulled back in shock, and looked from Pearl to Leo then at the dagger. Mikey threw his arms around Leo's waist and lower shell.

"I love you!!! Thank you so much Leo! You're the best turtle!"

"I thought I was the best turtle…" Don folded his arms.

"Leo's the best! He saved me from becoming a turtle-kabob!" Mikey held onto Leo even tighter. Leo just threw the dagger back to Pearl who caught it easily, and hid it before anyone could see it in her hand.

"Fine, then I guess I'll just disassemble that flying skateboard I made you." Don went to leave, pretending to be hurt.

"Wait!! Donny, you're my favorite turtle! Honest, the techno-turtle!" Mikey went to grab Don's arm but forgot that the coffee table was then and he tripped, knocking over Raph.

"Mikey…get offa me!" Raph twisted around and pulled Mikey off him, punching him in the shoulder in the process.

"But Raph, I can't help it. You're cool too in that 'I'm gonna kill you if you even look at me' kinda way."

"You're dead!" Raph went to hit Mikey, but Mikey pulled his legs up under Raph's stomach and kicked him off over his head. Mikey then got up and ran to hide behind Pearl.

"Wait, you threw a dagger at me! I can't believe you would do that to your favorite turtle!" Mikey went to move but Pearl grabbed his arm and shrugged her shoulders.

"I thought that since you were a ninja and the 'Battle Nexxus Champion' you could have dodged it."

Mikey's jaw dropped open. "That's not fair, I didn't expect it! I'm gonna go hide behind her, she didn't try to kill me!" Mikey moved and hid behind Cerina, just dodging a remote control that had been thrown at him. As Raph came running at him, Cerina sidestepped and left Mikey wide open.

"Thanks Cerina, I owe ya one." Raph pushed Mikey back into the wall and pulled out a sai. Mikey also pulled out a nunchaku, but before anything else could happen—Master Splinter stepped between them, pushing Raph back with his stick.

"My sons please. I'm trying to test Pearl on her abilities."

"But sensei, she proved her abilities when she almost gave Mikey a third eye." Raph looked at Pearl and gave her thumbs up.

"Raphael, 30 flips. Now."

"Ugh…I hate doin' flips…" Raph moved out of the way and began his flips.

"Then you should not question me, my son. Now, Pearl, I am going to give you a series of targets. Just try to see how many you can hit. Alright?" Master Splinter walked over to a metal covered box on the wall and opened it.

"'k, I'm ready." Pearl held her hands a little bit away from her body. Master Splinter pressed a button and targets started popping up from all over the lair; some moving and some not. After five minutes of watching Pearl throwing needles, stars and daggers, Splinter stopped the targets and examined each one. Pearl had hit the dead center of every target but one.

"Whoa…dude…" Mikey stared in shock, he leaned over to Leo and whispered "My girlfriend is better then yours."

"Mikey…" Leo would have smacked Mikey but his shell cell went off. "Hello, April." Leo was silent for a moment, "Alright, we'll be there in a few minutes." He hung up. "We gotta go. Apparently some Foot Ninja took an old relic from April's shop. Again."

"Sweet." Raph had finished his flips and he pulled out his Sais. "What are we waitin' for?"

"Can we come?" Pearl asked. Leo looked at his father who nodded.

"Sure, let's hurry."

The instant they were at April's shop, she described the relic as being an 'old rose covered in real silver'. She didn't even notice Pearl and Cerina. They left the shop, climbed up onto the roof, and looked around.

"Danger's a 'Foot' lads. We must be careful; we have innocent ladies with us." Mikey said as he pointed to some rooftops where you could see the silhouette of some Foot jumping around. Pearl and Cerina pushed their way past Mikey.

"I think we can handle ourselves Michelangelo." Cerina said as she and her sister began running the rooftops, chasing after the Foot Ninja.

Once they caught up with the Foot, the brothers, and girls made short work of them. Leo got hit down a lot more then normal just because he couldn't take his eyes off of Cerina. She was moving so gracefully, almost as if she were dancing. Pearl was glad that she didn't have to do much. She just sat back, away from immediate danger and threw daggers and stars. She only got to take out four or five, she was also glad of that. Pearl didn't like hurting other people. With the battle being finished and the relic recovered (and safe in Don's care), they headed back to April's shop.

When they came back into the shop April finally noticed that Cerina and Pearl were there. "Oh…who are you?" she asked as she took the rose from Don and placed it back into its case. Mikey bounced forward and put his arm around Pearl's waist.

"She's my girlfriend."

"Mikey, shut up." Raph smacked Mikey upside the head, "Her name is Pearl." Raph folded his arms over his shell and glared at Mikey.

"This is Cerina, Pearl's older twin sister." Leo put his hand on Cerina's shoulder and Don had to look away.

"It's nice to meet you. I'm April O'Neil and that big oaf coming through the door is Casey Jones."

"Hey guys. Hey babe." Casey picked up April and kissed her.

"Get a room bone head." Raph smacked Casey's shoulder.

"Don't call me 'bone head', hose brain." Casey said as he set April down and returned Raph's punch.

"Casey, why are you here?" Don asked, he was fiddling with an odd contraption on the front desk.

"OH, right. Raph, you wanna run tonight?"

"Shell yes!" Both Raph and Casey ran out of the store without a second glance at anyone.

"That wasn't surprising. Anyway, we should get back to Master Splinter. He worries." Leo turned and walked out of the shop.

"See ya April!" Don followed his elder brother.

"Later April." Mikey held onto Pearl's hand and pulled her out of the store; Pearl smiled and waved to April as they left.

"April, I was wondering…would you happen to have any advice for a girl in love with two different people?" Cerina leaned against a counter.

"Well, Cerina, that depends on whether that girl is in love with a human or a turtle." April folded her arms.

"How did you—?"

"I saw the way you blushed when Leo touched you _and_ the way you look at Donny."

"Was I that obvious?"

"Yeah, I'm surprised the others haven't noticed it."

"What should I do?"

"Which one do you like more?"

"I don't know yet…Leo…maybe…"

"I'm sorry, I can't help you Cerina. I was lucky. Casey made the first move although I have a feeling that those turtles had a lot to do with that."

"Well, thanks for trying." Cerina pushed away from the counter.

"Why did you ask me?"

"Um…I've never really knew my mother and I couldn't ask Pearl. She's so dense that I don't think she's realized that everyone around her can see that Mikey is hopelessly in love with her and her with him. They sorta came together naturally I guess……lucky…"

"Cerina, you comin'?" Don stuck his head in the open window. He was hanging upside down above the window.

"Yeah, see ya later April." Cerina jumped out the window and April yelled after her to have good luck. Up on the roof, Leo turned to Cerina.

"What was that about?"

"She just wanted to know if I had a boyfriend."

"Why was she asking?" Don leaned against his Bo staff.

"She figured that Pearl had a boyfriend," Cerina pointed at Mikey who was balancing on the end of a horizontal pole, "she was wondering if I needed any help finding a man."

"Do you?" Leo asked softly.

"Nope, I'm good." Cerina smiled as she looked into Leo's deep green eyes.

"Get a room!" Don called over to Mikey and Pearl. Cerina looked over to see a human Mikey and blushing Pearl frozen, halfway together. Mikey's hands on Pearl's hips and her arms around his neck. Both of them looked over at the same time; Mikey just smiled and Pearl blushed an even deeper red. Mikey took her hand a pulled her over to the others.

"We really should get back and get some rest. Finals will be starting soon." Don used his Bo staff to vault over a gap and he continued to run without looking back. Cerina took Pearl's hand from Mikey's and pulled her along the rooftops. Leo and Mikey followed after a sigh and a glance.

About two days had passed and the finals for first quarter were coming up fast. It was late at night and even when you were standing outside the lair, you could feel the tension. Raph, Mikey, and Pearl wouldn't leave Don alone; they wanted help studying. Leo and Cerina gave up on Don and helped each other study.

"My students, it is late and you need your rest." Splinter said as he walked into his room.

"Yes sensei," Leo shut his history book and stretched his arms over his head, "Cerina, how are you doing with the dates of World War I?"

"Fine, I know most of them. I'm more worried about math."

"You'll need Don's help with that one. I'm not the best at math either." Leo said, his voice getting louder because Mikey had just turned on DDR and had challenged Pearl. "They can be so annoying." Leo whispered.

"You haven't had to live with Pearl your whole life." Cerina closed her history book and opened her math book.

"Yeah, but you haven't had to live with Mikey."

"Touché." Cerina yawned just as the power went out.

"Donny!!" Mikey yelled, "You are _so_ crampin' my style!!"

"To bad Michelangelo, some of us are trying to study." Don yelled from his terminal.

"How can we study with the power off?" Cerina couldn't help feeling annoyed.

"Don, turn the power back on!" Raph growled, you could hear the screech on wood on stone as Raph quickly stood up.

"Not until Mikey promises to give me some quiet!" Don could be heard hitting the table.

"I promise." Mikey whispered, Pearl could tell that Mikey was really hurt. Mikey couldn't stand having his brothers mad at or upset with him; he always did what he could to make them happy and he felt like he failed when they were angry. Pearl knew this and she put her arms around him, tightly grasping her hands around his plastron, to try to give him some comfort.

"Thank you!" Don said, anger and stress in his voice. They heard a faint 'click' and the power came back on. Raph was gone from the kitchen table, Mikey was slumped on the couch, and Pearl was next to him—stroking his shell. Don went back to studying.

"These three are giving me a headache!" Leo stood up and went into his father's room. Cerina closed her math book, and stood up as well. _It's no use trying to study in here_ She thought. She quietly went into her room. Don watched her walk past and quietly wished that she wasn't upset with him.

As Cerina knelt down in front of her low alter, Pearl came in and sat on her hammock.

"When did that get in here?" she asked as she stretched out.

"What?" Cerina lit the candle and incense for Artanis.

"That table…" Pearl sat up again and pulled a book out from under her. She threw it on the ground and didn't lie back down.

"I built it a while ago, just after we moved in." Cerina lit the candle and incense for Haru, their father.

"Can I light Mom's?" Pearl eagerly asked. This really was the first time she had noticed the table. Most of the time it was too dark to see or she was already asleep by the time Mikey or Cerina brought her up to the room.

"Yeah, here." Cerina absently handed a match to Pearl as she knelt down next to Cerina. Pearl lit their mother's candle and incense and said a little prayer.

"Hey sis, why the sudden respect for Artanis?" Pearl asked as she laid back on her elbows.

"He's our Master and he's now gone from us. He deserves respect. As for Mom and Dad, we should have done this a long time ago." Cerina quietly said as she put the matches back into her bag by wall.

"Whatever…" Pearl stood up, "I have to pee…" She quickly left the room.

Cerina glanced back as her sister left the room and noticed a piece of parchment sticking out from inside Pearl's book—the one she threw on the ground. Curiously and cautiously, Cerina pulled out the folded paper and turned it over to see her name written on the front in Artanis' elegant hand. _This is the letter he wrote to me,_ Cerina thought, _why does Pearl have it?_ Cerina stared at Artanis' candle as her mind went numb. _Pearl read my letter…_pain, anguish and anger all shot through Cerina at one time; her gaze never left the low flickering light of the candle's flame, not even when Pearl came back in. She'd never felt like this towards her sister before, and that hurt her even more. She instinctively went into a Zen-like state to rid herself of these emotions…but it wasn't working. An angry tear rolled down her cheek. Cerina just sat their blindly staring at the candle, the letter clutched in her hand. Pearl stopped when she saw that Cerina was holding the letter.

"Sis…" Pearl began.

"Don't." Cerina whispered. She didn't want her voice to shake.

"But I can explain—" Pearl took a step forward but stopped again as Cerina stood up.

"The only way you could have gotten this letter was if you had been snooping through my things. I hid it so even I'd have to search for it." Cerina fought hard to keep her voice even and low. She didn't want the others to hear how weak she was being right now.

"But I didn't—I mean—I'd never..." Pearl trailed off. She had found the letter yesterday when she was looking for a book that Cerina said she could borrow. The letter was tied to the scabbard of one of Artanis' katanas; Pearl couldn't help but look inside it to see what it was. She hadn't time to read it then so she hid it in the book on her bed.

"You had no right in going through my things!" Cerina had to fight even harder, she was losing control.

"I didn't mean to—I found it by accident."

"And you kept it!?!"

"I was gonna give it back."

"When? Once you'd had a good look? Maybe shown it to Mikey or the others?"

"No I—" Pearl tried to begin but Cerina cut her off.

"Pearl, did you read it?" Cerina asked, her voice quivered, she was losing her battle.

"Yes…" Pearl said as she took a half step forward, Pearl was scared, this was the first time they had ever fought. Even though she was scared, she was going to stand up for herself. "I don't understand why you are getting so upset about it. It's not like there was anything personal in there."

"Personal? Pearl are you stupid? In this letter Artanis confessed to killing our father! Don't you remember it? We were right there!" Cerina couldn't help it. Her voice rose, but not too loud.

"No I don't remember it, and I don't see why you have to either. That was thirteen years ago!"

"Pearl, I remember it like it was yesterday. Artanis stabbed our father through the neck with these very katanas!" Cerina had moved over to the box and pulled out both of Artanis' katanas. "Every single night I have a nightmare. Oh, yes, I remember them. Nightmares about Haru's blood splattering across Artanis' face, our mother screaming for Artanis to stop, me and you crying and trying to stop Artanis, but most of all—I remember the last look that our father gave us. It was so full of fright, sorrow, and pain that I'm surprised you don't have nightmares about it." More angry tears rolled down Cerina's face as Pearl was stunned into silence. They stood there for a moment before Cerina turned around and began to leave.

"Where are you going?" Pearl asked as she tried to follow her older sister.

"To sleep on the couch." Cerina left the room and jumped down from the railing landing softly on the balls of her feet. Pearl watched as Cerina jumped over the back of the couch and disappeared behind it. Pearl blinked back tears as she crawled into Cerina's hammock rather then her own. As Pearl closed her eyes she took a deep breath in—the blankets and pillow smelt like the flower Jasmine…smelt like Cerina.

Down on the couch Cerina carefully placed the katanas and letter on the floor next to her, for some reason, she always liked sleeping on the ground better then in a hammock, bed, or couch. Cerina stared at the ceiling for almost an hour just trying to calm herself down. As she drifted off to sleep she decided that tomorrow, Saturday, she would disappear for a while.

The next two days were just as bad as—if not worse—than Friday. Leonardo was getting more angry and annoyed with his brothers so he spent most of the time meditating with his father; Raph couldn't even be in the lair at the same time as Don; Mikey felt that it was his fault that everyone was so angry because he couldn't cheer them up so he went to stay at April's shop; Don wouldn't come out of his room; when Cerina was at the lair she and Pearl wouldn't even look at each other and when they had to speak they kept it short as possible. Splinter spent many hours meditating, trying to figure out how to help his family come together again.

When the six antsy teens went to school on Monday, they were relieved to get their first three tests over with. They walked into choir and got ready for their final test that day. They had to sing a duet with an assigned partner. Pearl was singing with Raph, Don and Mikey were singing together, Leo had to sing with the 'president' of their fan club, and Cerina had to sing with a new student.

The first three groups went without a problem. It was Cerina's turn and she wasn't looking forward to it. First off, the girl she had to sing with was sweet…but she couldn't sing to save her life. So Cerina would have to really push herself to make up for the lack of talent. Second, Cerina's stab wound was infected and very painful. She didn't want to tell the others because she didn't want them to fuss over her; although, she was sure that, with their collected charm, they could get her out of having to sing the duet. The teacher signaled her to begin. Her partner already messed up by starting a beat off. Cerina just closed her eyes and sang one of her favorite songs:

In the moonlight, I felt your heart

Quiver like a bow string's pulse.

In the moon's pale light you looked at me

No body knows your heart.

When the sun has gone I see you,

Beautiful and haunting and cold,

Like the blade of a knife, so sharp so sweet,

No body knows your heart

All of your sorrow, grief, and pain

Locked away in the forest of the night.

Your secret heart belongs to the world

Of the things that sigh in the dark,

Of the things that cry in the dark.

The class was dead silent as Cerina and her partner went to take their seats. She wasn't sure if it was because she had actually sung very well or if she sang as atrociously as her partner did. Leo was the first to applaud as Cerina sat next to him. The rest of the class followed suit and Cerina smiled to hide the pain in her gut.

The next day was similar to the first. It started off stressful then, as their tests passed they relaxed. When they got back into the lair, they found Master Splinter waiting for them.

"Master, what is it?" Leo asked as he turned back into a turtle.

"I believe that it is time for a break. Pearl, may we go to your beach house?" Splinter turned to face Pearl as she looked confused.

"Beach house?" Pearl asked as she set her bag down.

"The one Master Artanis gave you." Cerina pushed Pearl down the stairs. "Which one did you think he meant?"

"OH! That one, sure…we can go there."

"Prefect, we leave to night."


	6. Chapter 6

Chapter 6

The plane ride wasn't too difficult, they boys turned into humans and Splinter wore a long coat, gloves, tall boots and a large hat. When people asked, Leo would very seriously tell them that their 'grandfather' had a very bad skin disease. Pearl sat between Raph and Don while Splinter sat between Leo and Cerina. Mikey was stuck between two heavy set, sweaty guys. He annoyed them so bad that they actually tried switching seats.

When the plane landed, Raph, Don and Mikey went to get the luggage while Cerina, Leo, Pearl and 'Grandpa' Splinter called two cabs. As they rode to the beach house the excitement was unbearable. They couldn't wait to arrive at the beach and play in the warm ocean water. Once they were at the gate, Pearl got out, unlocked it and opened it. They still couldn't see the house.

"Pearl, how big is this place again?" Mikey asked after a few minutes.

"I think it said there were 600 acres…" she replied.

"That's huge!" Raph exclaimed.

"There it is!" Mikey pointed out the window and the large, two story cliff side beach house came into view. Mikey stuck his head and upper body out the window so he could see better.

"Could you go faster?" Pearl asked the driver, he rolled his eyes and sped up. They reached the house and—before the cab was even stopped—Pearl, Mikey and Raph were out of the first car. Don and Leo weren't far behind from the second cab. Master Splinter and Cerina weren't in such a big rush. While everyone else was running through the house, Splinter unloaded the luggage while Cerina paid the drivers. Leo and Don came out to help carry the bags in. Once they walked into the house Leo and Don left them again. They ran through the house, out the French doors, onto the balcony, and down the stairs to the beach.

"Serenity, why don't you go join the others? I will make some tea." Splinter said as he walked into the kitchen and began opening drawers and cupboards.

"I'm fine Master, I'll unpack. Which room do you want?"

"This is you and your sister's house. I will sleep where you tell me to." Splinter turned on the stove and began to boil some water.

"Um…why don't you take one of the rooms by the bathroom? Perhaps the one across from the kitchen?"

"That is fine with me. Where will you sleep my dear?"

"The room next to yours, I guess. There are only four rooms but they are quite large so we get to share." Cerina said as she took hers and Pearl's bags into the room next to Splinter's. "Me and Pearl; Leo and Mikey; and Don with Raph."

"That sounds wise. Do these doors have locks?" Splinter asked.

"I think so…why?" Cerina called from her room.

"So I can lock my sons in their rooms at night, especially Michelangelo."

"We could always bar the doors from the outside." Cerina laughed as she began to unpack her and Pearl's things. At the bottom of her suit case, she found the little black and dark blue bikini that Pearl made her buy. Cerina groaned and shoved the swimsuit in the bottom drawer of the dresser. She sat on the window seat and looked out at the vast forest around the house. She could hear birds chirping, the roar of the ocean and the laughter of her friends.

"What are you doing in here?" Pearl asked as she came into the room, dripping salt water everywhere.

"I thought I'd unpack." Cerina turned to face her sister. She was wearing a bright orange and red bikini, even though she didn't train as often as she should, she had a nice firm, body. "I'm not cleaning up that water." Cerina sighed.

"I will, but come outside. Please? Come with me. Even if you just play in the sand, come outside!!" Pearl grabbed Cerina's arm and started to pull her up.

"I'll be outside in a minute." Cerina pulled her arm out of her sister's grasp.

"In your swimsuit?" Pearl asked as she went to the dresser, opened the bottom drawer, and pulled out the bikini.

"No, why would I need to wear a bikini if I'm going to be playing in the sand, not the water?" Cerina hurried and shut the bedroom door.

"Why not? Cerina, you look amazing in this." Pearl held it up.

"No I don't." Cerina looked away from the bikini.

"I'm pretty sure that Leo and Donny would agree with me." Cerina glared at her sister. This was the first time they actually talked since their fight. At least Pearl didn't show any hard feelings. Cerina walked over to Pearl and grabbed the extremely small amount of fabric from her sister's hands.

"Fine, but just know that I don't want to." Cerina quickly changed while Pearl looked for something in her bag.

After Cerina was in her swimsuit, she felt naked and embarrassed. Pearl stared in wonder at her sister. Cerina's body was actually very tan considering the fact that she never went out in less then baggy camo pants and a tee shirt or tank top. Pearl's eyes lingered on the stab wound in her sister's gut. It looked sorta nasty; it was red, inflamed, and it just looked painful.

"Um…sis, your stomach…are you sure that thing is healing right?" Pearl asked stepping towards her sister.

"Well, are we gonna go outside or sit in here all day?" Cerina headed out the door before she could lose her nerve.

Pearl skipped ahead of her sister and almost tripped while trying to skip _down_ the stairs. When they got down to the beach Cerina noticed that the boys were turtles. 'I guess they don't have to worry about that here.' Cerina thought. As she drew closer she noticed Mikey was poking a starfish with a stick; Raph and Don were trying to climb up a rock that was majestically jutting up out of the water about 50 yards out into the ocean; Leo was sitting on the sand out in the waves so that each crashed around him. Pearl ran at Mikey, jumped into him, and knocked him back into the water. They began throwing muddy sand at each other. Cerina sat well back from the water and began playing in the sand. She watched everyone for about half an hour.

Raph and Don had long since made it up to the top of the rock, they had been arguing about something for the last fifteen minutes. Cerina watched as Raph pushed Don off the top of the rock. He fell down towards the ocean, landed with a big splash…and didn't come back up.

"Don?" Raph called as his brother didn't come up. "Donny!?" Raph looked around the water franticly only to be pushed in by a soaked and laughing Donatello. He had hit the water and, staying under it, swum around to the other side of the rock and climbed back up while Raph was worrying. When Raph came back up, spitting out saltwater, Don gracefully dove into the water next to Raph; splashing him with even more water. "You're dead!" Raph began chasing Don around the rock and then onto the beach.

During all of this Mikey and Pearl dug a really deep hole in the sand, so deep that when Mikey stood in it you could only see the top of his head. They had filled this hole with water and sand and had mixed it to the consistency of a melted ice cream shake. Leo had moved back and was helping Cerina build her sand castle. As Don and Raph ran in a circle around them Pearl called out to Cerina.

"Come play in the water with us!"

"No Pearl, I'm good." Cerina didn't look up so she didn't see Mikey make a few motions designed to give silent orders to others. He directed these motions at Don, Raph, and Leo. Leo sighed at his littlest brother's plan.

"Please?" Pearl came running over, and stopped in front of Cerina.

"No, I like the sand." Cerina said as Raph and Don came over also.

"Why won't you play in the water?" Don asked.

"Cuz I just don't want to." Cerina replied.

"You can't swim can you?" Mikey said.

"Um…." Was the only answer Cerina could give.

"I can fix that." Raph picked up Cerina in a fireman's carry. He ran to the water with Cerina banging on his carpace and kicking his stomach.

"PUT ME DOWN! Raphael, what do you think you are doing? Please, put me down!!" Cerina yelled as Raph made it out to where the water was waist deep.

"Raph, wait." Leo stopped Raph and looked into his eyes. "Do you remember when we first learned how to swim and Mikey picked you up just like that and threw you in?"

"Yeah, I remember."

"Do you also remember how I had to save you from drowning?" Leo asked.

"Yep" Raph was wondering if Leo was trying to get mad at him or not.

"Okay, just wondering." Leo stepped out of Raph's way.

"LEONARDO! How can you let him do this? What kind of a friend do you think you are?" Cerina yelled as she began to pound on Raph's shell again and he began to walk forward again. "Raph put me down, please!" Cerina's voice was full of laughter but there was terror in her eyes. "Please, I'll do anything for you. Just put me down!"

"Anything?" Raph asked, a smile spreading across his face.

"Yes." Cerina was out of breath.

"Anything for me to put you down?"

"YES!!" Cerina was desperate.

"Give me a kiss?" Raph was completely serious.

"What?" Cerina stopped kicking as Raph hoisted her back over his shoulder and caught her in cradle.

Before she could say or do anything more, Raph changed into a human and pressed his lips to hers. Cerina's eyes went wide and a blush crossed her face as his lips roughly pushed hers open and he inserted his tongue. Cerina squeezed her eyes shut as his tongue found hers and began to caress it.

"Dude!" Mikey took a step back; Leo clenched his fists and actually growled, Don had to look way, and Pearl just stared in shock—she thought that Raph liked her. The kiss couldn't have lasted more then 30 seconds, but Cerina was furious. Raph stole her first kiss. He turned back into a turtle as he pulled away from her. Just as Cerina was about to say something, Raph dropped her into the ocean. She came up sputtering and struggling to get her feet firmly under herself. The water sharply stung at her wound.

"Raph!" Cerina pulled the hair out of her face, "why did you have to drop me?" There was a slight hint of laughter in her voice and the fear was gone from her eyes as she realized there was no immediate danger.

"Well, you said that you'd do anything for me if I'd put you down. You never said when or where you wanted me to put you down." Raph took a step back, and held up his hands in innocence.

"You are _so_ dead! That was my first kiss!" Cerina ran after Raph.

Once they were out of earshot and on the beach, Mikey turned to Don and Leo. "Dudes, he's movin' in on your girl."

"Which one are you talking to?" Pearl asked as she looked from Leo to Don.

"Both of them. Did you see Leo's face? That was precious! I wish I had a camera!!!" Mikey began laughing really hard.

"I know! Donny couldn't even look!" Pearl began laughing as well.

"Maybe she really likes Raph but she's just pretending she doesn't so she can eventually play a wicked awesome trick you two…" Mikey was holding his side because he was laughing so hard.

"What makes you say that?" Leo said angrily.

"She didn't look too upset during that kiss." Pearl was trying to breathe.

"At least Cerina's getting Raph back for that kiss." Don pointed to the beach and everyone looked over in time to see Cerina dive for Raph's feet, he tripped and fell face first into Mikey and Pearl's muddy hole.

The four still in the water almost fell over from laughing so hard. Splinter called from the balcony asking if everything was okay. When Raph came back out of the mud he waved that he was fine. Splinter went back into the house shaking his head. The sun was beginning to set, the wind was turning cold, and—after Raph washed off—they all went inside. They showered and went to bed.

Early in the morning, before the sun came up, Raph and Mikey snuck into Cerina and Pearl's room. They gently shook Pearl away from a nightmare. When she awoke and her eyes adjusted to the dim light she saw Mikey put one of his three fingers against his lips, telling her to be quiet. Raph pulled her out of bed as Mikey put a blindfold over her eyes. When she tried to protest, she felt a hand over her mouth. She was led out of the room, across the house and up the staircase—on the way up she tripped and felt someone pick her up but she couldn't tell if it was Raph or Mikey. Once they were on the second story, both guys left Pearl standing alone, she heard a window open and felt a cool breeze blow her hair back from her face. One of them came back to her while the other ran down the stairs. She felt an arm around her waist and she knew it was Mikey. He helped her over to the window, out of the window and onto the roof. She could feel the wind whipping her hair around and she could hear the roar of the powerful ocean. Mikey helped her sit down and he took the blindfold off.

"Whoa…" Pearl whispered as she saw the striking colors of the sunrise. The sky was streaked with gold, orange, red, pink, purple, dark and light blue. The ocean was reflecting the golden light with a sparkling brilliance. "It's amazing!" Pearl looked from Mikey to Raph—who had just shown up holding a tray of a delicious looking breakfast—then back to Mikey. "So…beautiful…" she couldn't take her eyes off of the sky; Mikey couldn't take his eyes off of Pearl.

"Here, we made you breakfast." Raph held out the tray he was holding. Pearl took it from him, and ate while she watched the colors of the sunrise fade into blue.

Meanwhile, back in the room, Leo and Don shook Cerina awake. She sat up and rubbed her eyes. "What is it?" she was a little grumpy because she had finally fallen into a peaceful sleep after a long night of nightmares about her mother, father, and Artanis.

"Are you hungry Cerina?" Don lit some candles on the nightstand.

"Sure…what's all this about?" she asked as Leo sat on the bed next to her.

"No reason, I just thought I'd give you a break from cooking." Leo handed the tray of food to Cerina. Next to her plate of eggs and bacon was a small vase with one red rose. Cerina smiled as she breathed in its sweet fragrance.

"You guys are spoiling me." Cerina tried to hide her blush as Don pulled back her black hair. She ate in silence for a few moments when she asked where Pearl was.

"Mikey and Raph have her captive on the roof." Leo answered.

"What! They aren't going to push her off are they?" Cerina exclaimed.

"No, they are watching the sunrise." Don laughed.

"That's disappointing. This is the prefect place and time for a murder mystery…" Cerina innocently stated.

"That sounds like something Mikey and Pearl would say." Leo looked from Cerina to Don.

"Thank you so much guys. This was really good." Cerina looked at Don—who shrugged his shoulders.

"Don't look at me, Leo made the breakfast. I just supplied the rose."

"Well, it's beautiful. Thanks Donnie." Cerina took both of the boys' hands.

Upstairs in the 'Game Room', the three climbed back into the house. Mikey ran downstairs with the tray while Raph stepped closer to Pearl. She didn't know why buy…she felt uneasy with Raph standing so close to her. She looked up to his eyes, but she had to look away. His eyes scared her; there was a strange light in his eyes. Raph took another step closer and put his hand on her neck as he changed into a human. Pearl pushed against his chest and tried to step back but he put his other arm around her waist, holding her close in an iron grip. She pressed her eyes closed and turned away.

"Please, Raph. Stop." She whispered as Raph's lips brushed her neck. "Don't, please stop…" she tried again to push him away but he was so much bigger and stronger then she was. Memories came of that night; the men holding her down, the one that covered her mouth, the one on top of her—the one that raped her. She clearly saw that man's eyes in her mind; they were hazel and had the same strange light in them as Raph's did. She suddenly wanted Mikey to be there. She wanted to look into his eyes. They were so warm and kind. She felt safe when Mikey looked at her. "Raph…stop …please…" Pearl lost her voice as a tear escaped one of her eyes.

"RAPH!" Mikey's voice came from across the room. Pearl opened her eyes and looked at Mikey. There was fear and unbelief on his face. Raph stopped giving Pearl a hickey and looked at his youngest brother. Pearl took that opportunity to push away from Raph; she ran into Mikey's open arms and—even though she felt safe against his shell with his arms around her—she began to cry. Mikey looked at Raph in disgust, anger in his eyes. "How could you do that?" He silently mouth. Raph just stood there, not really knowing what had come over him.

"I—I'm sorry—I didn't mean—" Raph stammered as he took a step forward.

"Stop right there." Mikey said, the anger was evident in his voice—if not in his cold stare. Raph—after a moment of listening to Pearl cry and feeling Mikey's stare down to his bones—turned and climbed out the window and jumped down to the ground. "Pearl…" Mikey quietly whispered after Raph had left. "Do you want to tell me about it?" he stroked her hair and held her close as she cried. He had no idea what to do. 'What would Leo do?' Mikey wondered 'Leo always knows what to do in these situations…'

"I—I'm just—really—scared right—now." Pearl struggled to control her breathing.

"Do you want to tell me?" All trace of anger was gone from Mikey's voice. The only thing left was concern and deep love for the young woman in his arms.

"That night…the one where you guys saved me and Sissy, I—I—was—" Pearl had to stop for a moment to breath again. Mikey was really worried; the only other time he'd seen anyone this scared was when he was trapped in that illusion with Leo. "I—was—raped Mikey."

A cold shiver shot down Mikey's whole body. 'Pearl was…raped? So…I didn't make it in time.' Mikey thought as he fought back a convulsion. He needed to be strong for Pearl…she needed him more then ever right now. "Are you alright?" That was the only thing he could think to ask. He silently kicked himself. 'Are you alright? What kind of a question is that? Of course she's NOT all right, she's just been raped! Idiot!!' He thought again as Pearl fought back tears.

"His eyes were the same." Pearl whispered.

"Whose eyes?"

"Raph's eyes…were the same as his…" Pearl started crying again.

'That bastard!' Mikey thought. 'Does he even realize what he's done to her?' Mikey held Pearl even closer to him. "Is there anything else you want to tell me?" Mikey took a deep breath to calm his nerves, Pearl had begun to shake really bad.

"I—I—I think I'm pregnant!" Pearl cried even harder then before.

"How do you figure that?" Mikey asked; honestly worried and honestly confused.

"'Cause I missed my period dumb ass! I'm three weeks late! I don't wanna have another guy's baby; I'm not ready to be a mother for anyone's baby but yours Mikey!" Pearl was on the verge of hysterics. Mikey didn't know how to react. A beautiful woman just said she wanted to have his baby…he was stunned into silence.

"Did we come in at a bad time?" Don asked from the stairway. Mikey and Pearl turned around, startled. Leo, Don, and Cerina were standing—frozen—in the stairway. Pearl pulled out of Mikey's grasp and ran into Cerina's, almost knocking her over.

"What are you doing up here bros? I thought we had a deal." Mikey innocently asked his older brothers.

"We just heard Raph storming past the balcony doors and we heard Master Splinter say he needed to talk to Raph immediately. We were just wondering what had happened." Leo stated as he looked from Pearl to Mikey.

"It was nothing. He just gave me another reason to add to my list of reasons as to why he's such a bastard." Mikey folded his arms across his shell and stared intently at the ground. Leo sighed; Mikey always did this. Something would happen between him and Raph or Donny and then he would be pissed off about it for a little while—not wanting to tell anyone—then Mikey would break down and tell Leo or Master Splinter what had happened. He would then run off as if it was no big deal. Mikey gave Leo a headache…

"My students please come downstairs." Splinter's voice came from the living room. The five looked at each other and headed down. No one ever refused the call of their Master.

"What is it Sensei?" Leo asked as he bowed to Splinter.

"Serenity, Pearl, I want you to go outside and play while I talk to my sons. I will call you back in when it is time." Splinter was sitting on the ledge in front of the fireplace. Cerina thought he looked a little up tight about something.

"Alright Master." Cerina bowed and left to her room. She changed with Pearl and they left the house. Once they were outside and the door was tightly shut, Splinter told his sons to kneel before him.

"After the events of the past few days, including this morning—" Splinter shot a look at Raph who was sitting on the other side of Don, with Leo and Don between him and Mikey, "—I have decided that…" Splinter stopped for a moment; he seemed to be composing himself. "That we need to talk about certain…feelings that are happening in your bodies as of late." Splinter looked down to hide a blush.

"Wait…you mean like…the Talk?" Don asked, shocked.

"Yes my sons." Splinter was still looking down.

"AH HELL NO!!!" Raph ran to the door, flung it open and tried to escape only—Leo and Don had grabbed his arms and Mikey was roughly (and purposely) pulling on his shell. "I'm not gonna be in the room for this." Down on the beach Cerina and Pearl looked at each other, up at Raph and the others then back to each other as Raph's voice came down to them. They shivered as they heard Leo's voice.

"Raph, if we have to go through this, so do you! Now get back in here, and take it like a man!" From below, the girls watched Raph get drug back into the house.

"What do you think is happening?" Cerina asked as they knelt down in the receding waves.

"I have no idea, but it can't be good." Pearl answered and, after a few moments of silence, she asked: "Cerina, what's castration?"

"What!?!" Cerina looked at her sister with one eyebrow raised and shock on her face. "Why do you wanna know?"

"Well…I heard Donny and Mikey talking about. Donny said that it was very, very painful and that he'd never want to go through it cuz it'd take all the fun out of life."

"Oh my goodness…Pearl…" Cerina sighed but didn't answer her sister. She wanted to keep Pearl as innocent for as long as possible.


	7. Chapter 7

Chapter 7

Back in the house, the brothers were waiting in thick, dreading silence as Splinter composed himself. They already knew about sex. As humans _and_ turtles (although they didn't pay much attention to the turtle Sex Ed class. They figured they could just turn into humans and it would all be good.). They knew everything already because of school and TV. What more could Splinter have to tell them?

"My sons; I know this is embarrassing, but please bare with me. This needs to be said." Splinter stopped again to compose himself. "I want us to feel comfortable talking about this so…please tell me what you like about girls."

Silence.

"Alright then…Leonardo, what do you like about them?"

"Um…I like their eyes." Leo said it simply; his brothers glared at him.

"Donatello?"

"I…uh...I like their hair." Don blushed as looked down.

"Good…Raphael?"

"I think they're cute when they're scared." Mikey glared at Raph as he said this—Mikey was thinking about this morning.

"Michelangelo, what do you like?"

"I like their boobies!" Mikey rocked back and forth on his knees. Everyone stared at him; they were wondering how could he be so open so easily? "What?" Mikey looked around at his brothers then to his sensei. "I do. You told us to be open, so I am!"

"You are right my son. I did say that." Splinter nodded.

"Then I'm changin' mine." Raph said as he leaned forward. "I like their butts."

"Me too…" Don muttered, still looking down.

"I like them too, but I still like their eyes the most." Leo said as he folded his arms over his shell.

"Always this honorable 'fearless'?" Raph asked.

"My sons," Warning was in Splinter's voice. "This is not a time to argue. Please try to take this seriously. Now, can any of you tell me why we have sex?"

"To reproduce?" Don put in.

"Heh, for fun." Raph said.

"It's good exercise." Mikey added.

"To show your love for a woman." Leo said seriously.

"Very good. All of you are correct, although, I feel that Leonardo's is the most accurate." Splinter looked at his eldest son.

"Teacher's pet." Raph whispered. Leo ignored him as his father continued.

"I believe that sex is the way to show your deepest love to a woman."

"Master…how can you say that when you've never had a girl?" Mikey asked and Splinter blushed.

"I have had…experience." Splinter said slowly.

"What?!" Don exclaimed.

"You mean you've scored?" Raph asked.

"Yes…a long time ago. In Japan…" Splinter trailed off as his eyes went glassy. Leo glared at his brothers who were covering their mouths and holding their breath—to keep from laughing.

"Master?" Leo asked, leaning forward a little.

"Yes? Oh, I am sorry my sons. Where were we?" Splinter shook his head a little.

"Just finishin'" Raph stood up.

"No, I remember. Raphael, sit down." Raph groaned and knelt down. "We were talking about the importance of these feelings."

"We were?" Don asked.

"Well…we are now. What do you like most about these feelings Leonardo?"

"I don't."

"Why not?" Splinter asked his eldest son.

"Um…" Leo looked from his brothers to Splinter. He didn't want them to laugh again. "I just don't like how those hormones take over my senses. It makes it so I can't see straight, I can't think about anything but sex. It makes me look at someone……at Cerina…in a way that disrespects her." Leo didn't look at his brothers or his father. He couldn't look at them. He'd just admitted to something that made him weak.

"That is so true…" Don whispered. Leo looked at his brother in shock. Mikey was also looking down, his eyes glistening.

"You three are such babies!" Raph exclaimed. He had the 'tone' in his voice. The one where you could tell he'd snap at any moment. "There ain't nothin' wrong with lookin' at a girl that way. In fact, most of them _do_ want us to look at 'um like that."

"What makes you say that Raphael?" Splinter's voice was very calm. He'd had years of experience dealing with an almost berserk Raph.

"Well, look at what they wear. All those tight jeans, low-cut shirts, see-through shirts, underwear showin' and the sluty way they act."

"Raph has a point." Don said, finally looking up.

"I agree as well my sons. Now, changing the subject. How do we have sex?" the way that Splinter said this convinced his sons that this was highly uncomfortable for him.

"Fast, do it fast! It makes the rush even better!" Raph said leaning back on his elbows.

"No, ya gotta do it slow. All romantic like." Mikey said as he began rocking again.

"Okay, we have two points. What about you Leonardo and Donatello?"

"I…agree with Mikey." Leo said quietly.

"Why?" Raph asked; clearly offended.

"Well, as Master Splinter said before, sex is a way to show your deepest love for a woman. If you do it fast and hard…it shows that you only want sex and nothing else."

"Right." Don cut in. "If you take the time to make it special for her, it shows you love her and care about her."

"Sweet! Three to one, what'll ya do about that Raph?" Mikey taunted. He was very glad that both Leo and Don were between him and Raph. Raph stood with fists ready.

"Raphael! Sit back down! I forbid you to fight with your brothers until this vacation is over!" Splinter's voice cut through Raph's anger.

"Grr…" Raph looked from Mikey's lopsided grin to the stern look on Splinter's face. A low hiss escaped from his lips and he sat back down.

The French doors opened and Pearl tried to sneak in but she slipped in her own puddle of salt water and crashed onto the floor.

"Ow…" She stood up and pulled back her wet hair. "Sorry Master!" she ran in front of the boys and into the bathroom.

"There are those feelings again……" Mikey said distractedly as he stared at the bathroom door; Leo pulled Mikey's head back by his orange bandanna. They were silent for a few moments until Pearl came out, ran in front of the boys again, and opened the French doors again. Before the doors closed, they heard her slip again and yell for Cerina to stop laughing. "Hey," Mikey turned to his brothers. "Are you guys feelin' the feelings again or is it just me?"

"Yes, Mikey." Raph answered.

"'Yes' what?" Mikey pressed. "It's just me or you too?"

"Just 'yes' nimrod!" Raph leaned back on his arms again.

Master Splinter sighed. "I can tell that this discussion is not going as planned; so I will stop it here. But, I must ask you all to promise me that you will wait until she is ready and willing." Splinter's eyes rested on Raph. "Please do not push a woman into anything if she isn't ready. You will only hurt her. Do you promise?"

"Yes Master." Leo bowed his head a little.

"Of course father." Don said quietly.

"I would never do that." Mikey glared at Raph again.

"Sure." Raph couldn't meet Splinter's gaze.

"Good. Now, my sons go ahead and go play." Splinter stood and disappeared into his room.

"Leo, do you wanna try surfin'?" Mikey turned to his eldest brother.

"Why not?" Leo and Mikey stood up and went into their room to change. Mikey said it was easier to surf as a human.

"So Don…do you wanna play a game upstairs?" Raph asked as he stood up.

"Sure, but only if I get to choose!" Don ran up the stairs with Raph close behind.

Out on the beach, Leo and Mikey met up with Cerina who was standing chest deep in water and trying to not freak out. Pearl was sitting on the rock that Raph and Don climbed yesterday. Leo showed Cerina how to move her legs to keep her head above the water and Mikey laughed at her.

After the swimming lesson, Mikey drug Leo and to boards out into the waves. Mikey got up the first time but it took Leo a few tries before he was able to stand up on the surfboard. After about two hours, Don and Raph joined them. Both brought boards and were trying to play chicken. No one noticed that Cerina was bold enough to swim around a little in the deeper water—consequently—no one noticed what happened next.

She became to bold. Cerina swam out too far and couldn't keep her head above the waves. A big wave came and crashed against her, knocking the air out of her lungs. She spun around under the water and, for a moment, she didn't know which way was up. Her head broke the surface and she was able to get some air, but she was pushed back down and swallowed a lot of water. She couldn't open her eyes and she could feel herself sinking. Her lungs screamed for air and white stars danced behind her closed eyelids. As she realized she was going to die, she frantically moved her arms and legs in a final attempt to reach the surface. She blacked out.

When she opened her eyes, she was on her side and violently coughing up salt water. Someone's hand was on her shoulder and they were also rubbing her back. She groaned and rolled onto her back. As her eyes focused, she saw human Don's worried face above her.

"Cerina, are you alright?" he asked.

"Yeah…what happened?" Cerina put a hand to her forehead and groaned again. Her throat was burning and her lungs ached.

"You almost drowned. I saw you go under and swam over as fast as I could and I pulled you out." As Don spoke, Cerina looked around the beach to see everyone still playing. Don was the only one to notice she was in trouble.

"You saved me?" Cerina blinked quickly to hide her tears.

"Yeah…I guess I did." Don couldn't look away from Cerina. She sat up and threw her arms around his neck and kissed his cheek. He blushed and put his arms around her waist. He couldn't help but notice the fact that both of them were in swimsuits—Cerina's being really skimpy—and their skin was touching in places that they normally don't touch. Don was glad Cerina couldn't see his face. He was bright red!

At that moment, from across the beach, Leo happened to look over in time to see Cerina hug and kiss Don.

"What the shell?" he said, louder than he meant to and the others looked over as well. Pearl was confused; she always thought her sister liked Leo best. Raph put a hand on Leo's shoulder.

"Sorry dude. Looks like she did choose him." Raph went back to picking on Mikey who was picking on a starfish.

Don helped Cerina stand up and he supported her as they walked back up to the house. Leo followed them—he couldn't help it. On the balcony, Don leaned in and kissed Cerina on the lips. This made Leo stop a few steps from the top. Don went into the house and Cerina leaned against the railing facing the ocean. Leo came to stand by her.

"Hey…" Leo said, feeling a little uncomfortable.

"Hey."

"I…uh…saw you and Don kiss." He couldn't think of a better way to say it.

"When I started it or when he did?" Cerina sounded like she was about to cry.

"Both…so…do you like Don best then?" Leo leaned against the railing facing the house, but looking at Cerina.

"I don't know. I mean…I like Donny, but it's more like a big brother or best friend."

"But you kissed him."

"Once, down on the beach and it was on the cheek."

"I don't mean to sound nosy—but why did you do that? I mean you just said you only thought of him as a friend."

"I do, if you hadn't noticed, I almost drowned." Cerina swallowed as she tried to keep her throat from aching. "Donny saved me and to thank him, I gave him a kiss. I wouldn't be here now if not for him."

"So…" Leo was stunned for a moment. Cerina had been in serious trouble and he didn't even notice. "…the kiss up here…?" Leo pressed, curious, but not wanting to sound rude.

"Completely took me by surprise. I really didn't expect it…or want it."

"Why?"

"Well…I…like someone else." Cerina kept her eyes fixed on Pearl and Mikey down on the beach. They were chasing each other again.

"Really? Is it someone I know?" Leo asked, his hopes rose once again.

"I should hope so."

"Will you tell me if I guess right?"

"Maybe."

"I'll take that as a yes. So, does he go to our school?"

"Yes."

"Wait, it is a boy right?"

"Of course! I'm not that weird!" Cerina tried to keep the smile from her face.

"Alright…is he in any of our classes?"

"Yep."

"Is he tall?"

"Yes."

"Dark?"

"Sure."

"Handsome?"

"Obviously, I think so." Cerina couldn't help but look at Leo. He was absolutely breathtaking against the deep green forest and bright blue sky.

"Is he a friend of yours?"

"Yes."

"Can I give up?"

"No, I'm having fun listening to you guess."

"Cerina, will you please tell me?"

"Maybe."

"I know that tone. What do I have to do?" Leo turned to face Cerina, but he stayed leaning against the rail.

"Um…you can…" Cerina paused. She wanted this to be really good, but not embarrassing. After all, she wanted him to like her, not be mad at her. "AH! You can massage my back for me."

"That's it?"

"Yep."

"Alright, agreed. Will you tell me now?"

"Sure…" Cerina paused again. This was the pivotal moment and she didn't want to spoil it. "The guy I like best is you Leo. I've always liked you best." Cerina glanced at Leo and noticed that he wasn't looking at her anymore. He eyes were fixed on the door behind her and his face was white. "Leonardo?" Cerina heard the sound of wood hitting wood and a faint tinkling of chimes. Cerina looked towards the house to see Don frozen in the doorway. Shock on his face with his arm halfway raised. There was a wooden music box on the wood deck by his feet.

"How long have you been there?" Leo quietly asked.

"Long enough." Don answered pain clear in his voice.

"Donny…" Cerina took two steps towards him; he took one step back and shook his head.

"No Cerina…just…don't come near me." Don blinked back a tear.

Cerina stopped halfway between Don and Leo, who had also taken a step forward. Down on the beach Raph, Pearl, and Mikey watched in silence. Cerina looked from Don to Leo, then to Don and back to Leo.

"I…I…" Cerina fought hard to keep her tears back.

"This can't end good." Raph said from the beach.

Cerina looked at each one more time before she closed her eyes and yelled: "I don't know what to think anymore!!" she pushed past Don, ran through the house, and into her room. Master Splinter called after her as she slammed the door and locked it.

On the balcony, Don bent down and picked up the music box.

"So…did you…uh…make that for Cerina?" Leo cautiously asked.

"Yeah…look Leo. She made her choice, and for one happy moment, I thought it was me. But she didn't choose me, she choose you. I see now that it was always you. Leo, I just want her to be happy, and if it's with you then I can let her go. I know you'll take good care of her—protect her and everything. But, big brother, if you _ever_ do _anything_ to hurt her…I'll make you pay for it." Don faced his elder brother and Leo couldn't mistake the threat in his voice and eyes.

"Don't worry Donny, you have my word." Leo gave Don a deep bow to emphasize his promise.

Don just walked over to the end of the balcony, jumped off and walked into the forest. Leo looked from Don, to his brothers and Pearl on the beach, then to where Cerina was. He ran into the forest in the opposite direction as Don.

"Told ya." Raph went back to building his sandcastle.

Later that night, Pearl, Mikey, Raph, Leo, and Splinter were watching a movie. Don was still gone and Cerina was still locked in her room.

"I'll be back." Pearl stood up and Mikey grabbed her hand.

"Where ya goin'?" he asked, clearly not wanting to let go of Pearl.

"I'm just going to see if I can talk to Cerina. I won't be long Mikey." Pearl waited until Mikey reluctantly let go of her.

Pearl walked down the stairs, through the house, and stopped outside of the door to their room. The lights were off and it was silent. She knocked and only received a grunt that clearly meant 'go away'. Pearl tried the door, but it was locked, so she pulled out one of her long thin needles that she always kept with her and pick-locked the door. Pearl was surprised that it was so easy; she opened the door and entered the dark room. It took a minute for her eyes to adjust and when they did, she saw Cerina lying across the bed on her stomach, her face down in the pillow. She was still in her bikini. "Cerina?" Pearl came over to the edge of the bed.

"What?" Cerina mumbled, because her face was down in the pillow, Pearl barely heard her.

"I just came to see how you were doing." Pearl sat down on the bed.

"I'm fine, just prefect." Cerina rolled over to her side, facing away from her sister.

"Uh-huh…right." Pearl said sarcastically.

"I really am, honest."

"You're not fooling me sis." Pearl put her hand on Cerina's shoulder.

"Fine, you want to know what's wrong? I'll tell you. I'm depressed, an insomniac, repressed, high, drunk, pregnant, sick. I've got caner, hepatitis, an STD and I've been murdered." Cerina sounded completely serious, but Pearl only believe the first two things her twin said.

"You are such a moron!" Pearl looked away to make sure Cerina wouldn't see the smile on her face.

"I know." Cerina rolled back over to her stomach.

"Why don't you come watch the movie with us? It's Indiana Jones: The Last Crusade. C'mon, you love Harrison Ford _and _Sean Connery."

"Do I have a choice?"

"No." Pearl took Cerina's hand and pulled her off the bed, handed her a shirt and a pair of pants, then drug her up the stairs, and into the game room.

Pearl pulled Cerina over to the others and pushed her into Leo's open arms. Cerina didn't mind, but it made her glad that Donny wasn't here. Pearl sat next to Mikey on the Luv Sac again. The movie played on for another hour when they heard a crash downstairs. Splinter paused the movie and they listened in silence for another moment before they heard someone stumble.

They crept down the stairs. Raph's eyes adjusted the quickest to see Donny using his Bo staff to help him walk. Blood was seeping from a wound on his left leg. His arms and face were bruised and the upper half of his beak was split open and bleeding.

"DON! What happened man?" Raph ran down the stairs to his brother.

"What ya do…fall down?" Mikey slid down the banister to pass Leo and Cerina.

"In the…forest…" Don tried to keep consciousness.

"What's in the forest?" Leo moved to his brother's side as well.

"A deadly deer?" Mikey asked. All he received was a smack upside the head from Raph.

"No…men…attacked me….coming….here…" Don collapsed and Raph collapsed under his weight.

"Michelangelo get Donatello's first aid kit from the bag. Pearl, could get me some hot water?" Splinter knelt by his son's leg.

"Do you know why they attacked you?" Leo asked as he knelt by his brother.

"Ugh…no…they just…asked about…Cerina…" Don struggled to stay awake. He reached for Cerina.

"What?" Pearl asked as she came back with the water.

"What did they look like?" Cerina asked; a shadow across her face. No one had ever seen her this serious.

"They looked like…business men." Don couldn't hold on any longer and he passed out.

"Business men?" Leo asked—addressing no one in particular.

"Cerina?" Pearl quietly asked; touching her sister's shoulder.

"Don't touch me." Cerina pulled out of her sister's grasp—more roughly than she meant to.

"What is wrong with you?" Pearl snapped and Mikey took her hand.

"Nothing."

"Nothing my ass! You know who they are don't you?"

"No, I don't" Cerina stared intently at Splinter's hands—watching him sew up Don's leg, though the sight normally would have made her feel faint.

"Right. Tell me who they are." Pearl had an edge to her voice that Cerina remembered their mother having.

"They are…clients…of Artanis." Cerina stood up. "I have to go."

"What?" Leo stood also, "Why?"

"I can't explain. Who ever they are, they are after me." As Cerina started walking away, Leo grabbed onto her hand.

"Don't go." He whispered, so quiet that Cerina could barely hear him.

"Leonardo, please let me go. I'll explain later, I promise." Cerina was whispering as well.

"Why can't you tell me now? Maybe I can help."

"No. Leonardo, please. I have to do this. I promised Artanis that I would take care of this for him." Cerina started to turn away but Leo wouldn't let go.

"Alright. I trust you. But is there anything I could do?"

"Just keep everyone here. Okay?" Cerina pulled away but once again Leo stopped her. "What?" Cerina asked.

Leo leaned forward and gently pressed his soft lips against Cerina's. It didn't last very long, but the message was clear. A sad smile crossed his face. "Be careful." He whispered in her ear. "I plan on finishing that kiss." He pulled away and let go of her.

Cerina ran into her room, grabbed the katanas Artanis gave her, and ran outside. As she left the house, Pearl tired to follow but Leo held her back. While Cerina plunged deeper into the forest, she heard Pearl scream her name. Cerina just pushed away her feeling of fear and pumped her legs as fast as she could. She moved as fast and silent as a ghost, just as her ninja training taught her, but she knew that it wouldn't be long until they found her. She knocked away branches and jumped over fallen logs until she heard the snap of branches behind her.

When she looked over her shoulder, she saw seven men dressed in suits chasing after her. Cerina looked ahead as she pushed herself to run faster; she closed her eyes and fought back the burning in her legs. It had been a long time since her legs moved this fast for this long. She suddenly stopped as she came to the high fence that surrounded their property. She heard her pursuers stop behind her. Cerina turned and drew her katanas.

"Well, well, well. It's been a long time Serenity. How's your father?" asked the man closet to Cerina. She growled and tightened her grip on her katanas. "Dead? Oh, that's too bad. Looks like we'll have to get it from you instead." He drew a katana.

"Just try." Cerina took up and offensive stance.

"Alright then." The man ran at Cerina and she sprung to meet him. The clash of metal on metal rang through the forest.


	8. Chapter 8

Chapter 8

Leo paced by the front door. They had moved Donny to the couch in front of the fireplace with his head in Raph's lap. Mikey was holding Pearl, who was silently crying. Splinter was making tea. Cerina had been gone for twenty minutes. It had taken Leo ten of those minutes to convince Pearl that she needed to stay in the house. He wished he could have made Cerina stay. There was a storm moving in and lightning flashed outside the window.

"Leo, stop pacin'. You're givin' me a head ache." Raph complained over the roll of thunder.

"Sorry Raph." Leo slid down the wall to sit on the floor by the door. He closed his eyes and leaned his head back against the wall. 'I really hope that Cerina is alright.' He thought. 'She seemed tense.' They were all silent for another few minutes before Leo couldn't take it any more. "Pearl, do you know what's going on?"

"Uh-huh." She shook her head and clung tighter to Mikey's shirt.

"Anything at all? Who those men were? What they wanted with Cerina? Anything?" Leo pressed.

"Leo, she said she doesn't know so don't press her!" Mikey snapped.

"It's okay Mikey. I understand where he's coming from. I was worried too." Pearl whispered.

"'Was'? You mean to say that you're not worried about her anymore?" Mikey asked. Leo was shocked that Mikey picked up on that little detail.

"Well, I _am_ still worried, but not as bad anymore." Pearl wiped the tears from her cheeks.

"Why not?" Raph asked, grateful for some kind of conversation.

"She has the katanas with her. They were Artanis' and I'm sure that his strength is with her...whatever she's doing."

"I thought that those two didn't get along?" Mikey asked.

"They didn't, do you remember that letter I told you about? The one that I kinda stole from Cerina and read it without her permission?" Pearl sat up to look at Mikey's face.

"The one you guys fought over? I remember."

"Well...it was from Artanis. It had been folded up and put in the bottom of one of the katanas he gave her. I won't tell you everything it said, but in that letter he finally told Cerina that he was proud of her and that he loved her. It had a big impact on her, she respects him now. She forgave him for everything that he did to her. All of the trips to the emergency room, the stab wound, being so harsh on her..stuff like that. I believe that when she uses those katanas, she's remembering all of his lessons, and teachings as well as...other memories. She will become much stronger than normal when she uses those."

"That was quite the explanation Pearl." Mikey leaned back into the couch.

"She has a point." Leo whispered.

"Agreed." Splinter said as he came back into the room and set the tea on the coffee table. They were silent after that. Waiting and wondering what was going on in the forest.

Cerina panted as she wiped the sweat off her brow and tried to catch her breath. She was up in a tree and the business men didn't know where she was. To be honest, she didn't know what all of this was about, but if it was a debt that Artanis owed, she would pay it off...getting revenge for Donny at the same time. She had forgotten her watch, but she figured they had been at it for fifteen or twenty minutes. She shivered. A storm was coming in. She carefully peered down and saw one of the men beneath her tree. She took one of the large rocks from her lap and dropped it on his head. Before the others were alerted to her location, she had already moved to another tree several yards away from the previous one.

"Come on out Serenity, we just want to talk." Yelled the leader.

Cerina took a breath and threw her voice away from her true location. "If you just wanted to talk, why did you come at me with swords drawn?"

"We figured that you'd have your father's attitude and we were right. We decided that it would be better to be safe rather then sorry." The leader moved in on the spot her voice had come from.

"I'm not there." Cerina wanted to see if she could mess with there heads.

"Not where?"

"In that bush you're all crowding around. Even if I was, do you think I'd let you surround me?"

"But—?" The leader thrust his katana into the bush and then spread the branches. He quickly straightened and looked around. "Very clever. You can throw your voice." He made a slow circle—scanning the undergrowth of the forest. "It's a nice trick, but you won't be able to hide forever." He signaled for his men to fan out and search the general area.

"If you would tell me what you wanted from Artanis, I might be able to help you." She threw her voice to a different spot.

"That's just the thing, we need your help seems as Artanis is no longer living."

"What do you need help with?" Cerina moved silently to a different tree again.

"Artanis promised us that if he didn't finish a job, you would. He also told us that you'd be taking over his business once you got his katanas. Seems as you have them, you must be running his business."

"I don't know what your talking about. Artanis left me these katanas in his will and I never knew what he did in that stupid business of his." She threw her voice again.

"You mean to tell me that he never recruited your services before?"

"No." Cerina tried to figure out what this crazed man was talking about. Why would Artanis have needed her help in his 'business'.

"I guess I'd better be the one to explain. Why don't you come out of hiding so we can talk like civilized people?"

"Why don't you sheath your weapons and put them on the ground?" Cerina twisted around a little so she could see the men better.

"Alright, we'll put them away and on the ground." the man sheathed his katana, but didn't put it on the ground. "There, away and out of reach. Now will you come out?"

"Not a chance. I can see you you know." Cerina clenched the grips of her katanas.

"Fine." He and his men put their weapons on the ground. "How about now?"

"Nope, you already showed me that I can't trust your word. I'll stay where I'm at, you can explain everything just fine without seeing me." Cerina continued to throw her voice to various places. She could tell that the henchmen were getting edgy, but not the leader. He stayed calm and unphased with everything.

"You win." he sighed. "Your guardian ran a very helpful business. It was one that got rid of bothersome people."

"'Got rid of'?"

"You could say that he put them permanently out of commission."

"He...killed...them...?" Cerina's stomach clenched and her breath caught in her throat.

"Yes. He was one of the greatest assassins New York has ever seen. He assured us that you would take over the business after he left us."

Cerina didn't say anything. She was still trying to breathe and unknot her stomach. Artanis was...an...assassin? That just didn't make sense. She knew that he killed her father, but Artanis said in the letter that—. "Who has he killed?" She asked.

"Several. More than I can count or recall."

"Anyone I know?" Cerina had to force herself to keep her position secret.

"Yeah, two for sure." the man's voice was filled with glee.

"Who?" Cerina pressed.

"A Haru and a Pearl."

"What?" Cerina whispered as lightning lit up the sky and thunder boomed.

"Gottcha!" said the man and there was a gunshot.

The bark next to Cerina's head exploded. She ducked and launched herself into the nearest tree. Gunshots followed her to which ever tree she jumped to. "Shit," she cursed as one bullet grazed her cheek and blood flowed freely down her face and neck. She couldn't lose him, she'd have to face him. She turned around and raced back to where he was standing with his Glock out and firing.

"Finally going to stay and fight?" he asked as Cerina landed in front of him with her katanas at his neck.

"Only if you tell me why he killed Pearl." Rain began to fall.

"That was simple. She slept with his best friend and bore his child. Which I would assume was you. I mean, you look just like Haru."

"Wait..." Cerina's head was spinning. They didn't know about her twin. Artanis kept her a secret, and so would she. "Why would he kill his wife? Why not just stop at killing my father?"

"You say it so matter-of-fact. I would guess that you knew about that part."

Cerina nodded. Lightning flashed again.

"But not Pearl. Well, the easiest way to explain would be that there were a lot of men angry with Pearl. She was sort of a rare novelty underground. Many people were angry when Artanis snatched her away. After the affair, many men were convinced that she would sleep with them too and they pursued her. Artanis had the choice of fighting for her, which would have been the wise thing, but instead, he took the cowards way out and killed her himself."

"I was told that she died in a car accident." Cerina forced her voice to stay emotionless.

"With Artanis' help. You see, he had another target. He paid the target to run a red light at the same intersection that Pearl would be going through. It was brilliant if you ask me."

"I'm not asking you." Cerina's eyes narrowed. "Who are you?" she asked again.

"How rude of me. The name is Romero."

"What, no last name?"

"Not in this business honey." Romero reached up and fingered the tip of one of her katanas.

"What do you need me for? I'm no assassin and I refuse to take Artanis' place as one." her grip tightened so tight that she thought her knuckles would burst.

"I was hoping that you would change your mind after I told you the target."

"It won't spark my interest."

"Not even if it's one of the Purple Dragons that raped your friend?"

Her breath caught again. "Nope, not even then." her voice wavered a little, but still held strong. She was soaked through and the rain was only falling harder.

"Too bad, because you see, now we either have to try harder to convince you, or we have to kill you. So, which will it be?" Romero reloaded his Glock and his henchmen surrounded Cerina.

"Neither. I'll be the one to kill you." Cerina lowered her left katana from Romero's neck and held it out away from her side.

"It will be fun to see you try, but I recall hearing you say something about not letting yourself get surrounded." Romero smirked.

Cerina snarled as she glanced out of the corner of her eyes. She was surrounded. She had been trying so hard to figure out what Romero was talking about, that she had let her guard down. For now, she decided that she would play it safe. "How else were you going to try to convince me?" she whispered.

"Are you saying you'll do the job?"

"There isn't a chance of that happening. I'm just curious as to what else you've got up your sleeve." she lowered her right katana and held it at her side like the left. It was a simple stance good for offense and defense.

"Boy's why don't we show her?" Romero took a step forward.

"We're up for that boss, just don't hog her all to yourself." said the man on Romero's right.

"Don't worry boy's there will be plenty to go around." Romero leaped forward and clubbed Cerina behind the ear before she could react.

The katanas slipped from her grasp and she fell to her knees. Just like in the alley, her head swam and her vision went blurry. She fought it. There was no way she was going to be knocked out surrounded by men. Romero hit her at the nape of her neck and she fell forward onto her hands. She gritted her teeth and swallowed. Her throat still hurt from her near drowning experience.

"She's tougher than we thought. Looks like we'll get to hear her scream and plead." Romero kicked Cerina's gut and she couldn't hold in the cry of pain. She felt her wound tear open as she landed on her back. "Hmm...didn't think I kicked her that hard. I think she's hiding something. What do you say we take a look?" Romero bent down and pulled her shirt up higher than necessary. "Would you look at that? Our little ninja has a stomach wound." He pressed his hand into it.

"GAH!" Cerina tried to sit up but two of the men came and held her hands down.

"Looks like she's in a lot of pain boys. What could we possibly do to help her forget her painful wound?" Romero's voice was full of mockery.

"Well boss, we could always give some other pain to get her mind off of it." Said the man from before.

"That is a wonderful idea Sean. Would you like to do the honors?"

"I would like to boss, but I know how much you want to." Sean knelt next to Romero. Lightning lit up the sky once again and thunder rolled.

"Thank you Sean. You'll be getting a raise." Romero said with a smirk as he stratled Cerina. He grabbed one of her katanas and cut her shirt open and then her bikini top, leaving a razor thin cut from her belly button up almost to her neck. "Hmm...." He groped her chest. "Nice and firm. Just the way I like them."

"Ugh..." Cerina moaned. She tried to make her mouth form words, but she was having a hard enough time trying to stay conscious.

"A little grunt is all I get? I guess I'll have to try harder." Romero fiddled with her belt and zipper for a moment before he shoved his hand down her pants and into her.

"Ahh!" Cerina tried to move away from his hand, but Sean held her down.

"It's alright Sean, let her squirm. It doesn't bother me and it only makes her stomach hurt worse. Ant that means I get to try harder to make her forget her wound." Romero fingered her for a while before he leaned forward and bit her neck. She turned her head away and tried to move, but her arms and legs were being held fast by Romero's henchmen. She still couldn't make her tongue work right to form words.

"Boss, I don't think it's working any more." Sean said as he tapped Romero's shoulder.

"You're right. We must go all out." Romero pulled his had out of her pants long enough to pull them down. He unzipped his pants and pulled himself out. "You'll enjoy this Serenity, I'm sure you will." He thrust himself inside of Cerina.

She screamed and tried to fight harder then before. It didn't do any good. Romero just kept hurting her and hurting her for what felt like hours. He went faster and faster until she could feel him empty himself inside of her. She found her voice screamed again and again for him to stop. She knew that's just what he wanted, but she couldn't stop herself from pleading and begging. She never once opened her eyes, and she didn't want to. She felt Romero pull himself out of her and, after a conversation she couldn't hear above her beating heart, she felt someone push inside of her. It was someone else, but she didn't dare look to see who. It felt like hours again and again. She was getting desperate to stop them. She went numb after the fourth person but that didn't stop them. The rain was slowing down, but it was getting colder and she could feel it stinging her face and bare chest. She started shivering.

The weight on top of her left arm shifted and she knew that the men were switching again. The men holding down her right arm let go. She didn't hesitate or stop to think. She lashed out and felt her hand connect with someone's jaw. She opened her eyes and glanced around her while she hit another guy in the back of the knee. She pulled her left arm free when he let go to help his comrade. She clenched her teeth at the pain in her gut and lower parts and sat up. She forced her body into a back roundoff which threw the other two holding her off balance. When she landed she wobbled but stayed on her feet. She stood and pulled up her pants at the same time doing the button with a flick of her wrist as she blocked a punch from Sean.

"Get that little bitch!" Romero yelled.

Cerina was a lot slower than normal and her gut and head ached but she kept fighting. Romero came running at her with his katana drawn. She tucked and rolled forward and grabbed her two katanas she spun and impaled Sean. Blood splattered everywhere. He slid off of her blade and landed dead on the ground. The rest of the men ran at her to get revenge, but she made short work of them. Impaling or decapitating them. Soon, Romero was the only one left. She turned to face him. She was now covered in the blood of his men as well as her own. Lightning flashed as the rain receded to a drizzle.

"I'll get you for killing my men." Romero pulled out his Glock but Cerina knocked it away with one of her katanas. "That's okay, I still have this." He unsheathed his katana.

Cerina repeated the words that had started this whole affair. "Just try."

"I will!" Romero ran at Cerina but she just sidestepped and pushed him off balance.

Earlier she had noticed that, though he could hold it right and knew a few stances, he really wasn't that good at Bushido. If she stayed calm—and numb like she was—she could win this and get back to Pearl and Leo's open arms. He lunged again and she stepped back and blocked. That happened a few more times, and Cerina was really getting tired of it until her back hit a tree. He lunged one more time and grazed her left bicep before she could move.

"You're good. Artanis was right when he suggested that you take over after him. You killed all of my men without a thought."

"I'll take that as a compliment." Cerina growled.

"Reconsider. I'll pay you twice as much as I paid Artanis. And I'll give you lots of vacation days, with a pretty and large house. You'll have all the money and property you want."

"Never."

"Suit yourself." Romero ran at Cerina again but this time she just held her blades forward and he ran straight into them. One in his chest and one in his stomach. "Argh........." blood welled up then trailed from between his lips. "Now I know...of the...honor.....it is.......to be.......killed by........an......Orphen...." The light faded from his eyes as he collapsed, sliding off of Cerina's katanas.

She gasped for air, turned, and looked around her. The full impact of what had just happened hit her. She collapsed and vomited. She had killed someone. A lot of someones. She'd never done anything more than knock them out before. She raised a shaking hand to wipe off her mouth but stopped. Both of her hands were smeared with blood. She looked down at the rest of her. Blood was splattered everywhere. "NO!!" She screamed with all of the strength and sanity left in her. She heard her voice echo around her before it faded. She wrapped her arms around her and screamed again and again. Her voice gave out and she realized that her throat was still aching from swallowing seawater and from all the previous yelling. She swallowed and picked up the katanas—they felt very heavy.

Cerina staggered to her feet, fell down, pushed herself up, and began walking back to the house. She fell several times and, when she could barely see the house through the trees, she fell again. This time, she didn't try to get up. She just laid there. She didn't know how long she was there, but the morning sun was peaking out from behind the storm clouds. She stirred, groaned, and tried to sit up. There was a lot of mud in her stomach and cheek wounds, and she was sure that the lump behind her ear was going to get infected too. Everyone would be worried about her—especially Pearl. She once again staggered to her feet and walked out of the tree line.

It had been a lot darker under the canopy of the trees. The sun was shining bright and reflected off of the white house in a brilliance too great for Cerina's eyes. She shielded them and shuffled up to the house. She tried the door but it didn't open. If she had had the energy, she would have gone around the house to the balcony or through a window—instead she leaned against the door, and dropped a katana as she closed her eyes. She felt about ready to collapse again. She heard voices from the other side of the door. Someone said her name, but she was gone.

"Raph, would you just open the door?" Mikey snapped. It had been a long night and none of them slept, except Donny, who had just woken up from being unconscious.

"Sorry Mikey, what if it was one of those boogie-men that Don was muttering about all night?"

"What if it's Cerina?" Leo folded his arms as he stood behind his youngest brother.

"Most likely not." Raph stretched his arms over his head, but stayed leaning against the door. There was a clatter of metal from just outside the door.

"Raph, move it or I'll have to move you." Leo assumed the 'voice' as he stepped around Mikey and got right in Raph's face. The 'voice' was something he learned from Master Splinter, it was dead serious, and full of command. He only used it when he _was_ dead serious and in no mood to joke.

"Alright already. Ya don't have ta go all commando on me bro." Raph stepped to the side.

"You don't have to be so mean Raph." Pearl said as she slid into Mikey's arms.

"Tch. Whateva..." Raph muttered as he went up stairs.

Leo opened the door only to have an unconscious Cerina fall into him. He barely caught her, but he was also knocked to the ground. "Cerina?"

"Ah, shit." Pearl groaned as Leo turned Cerina over.

Her cut shirt fell wide open and Leo quickly covered her. "Cerina?" He called as he stroked her face on the unwounded side. "Can you hear me?" He was hoping that he could wake her up so he could find out exactly what was wrong.

"What is it? What's wrong?" Don asked as he hobbled over using Splinter's stick.

"It's Cerina. She's covered in blood and I don't know if it's all hers or not." Leo gathered Cerina up into his arms and stood up. He carried her into her room and laid her on the bed. He had to cover her exposed chest again as he changed into a human.

"How did she—?" Don began as he sat on the edge of the bed.

"She ran out of the door just after you passed out." Leo explained as he began cleaning Cerina's cheek wound with the warm water Splinter just brought.

"Why would she—?" Don started.

"Because she didn't want them coming here and, from what you said, they were after her and her alone." Leo rinsed his rag and began to clean her stomach wound. "She really didn't take care of this did she?" he muttered.

"Cerina has never been one to take good care of herself. She's always too worried about others." Pearl crawled over the bed to sit next to her sister's head. She took one of her hands.

"Do you think her shirt got cut open because she was dodging an attack?" Mikey asked.

"No." Leo growled as an angry look clouded his face.

"Why?" Don asked.

"Look for yourself. What do you see?" Leo's voice wasn't more than a whisper.

"Well..." Donny was quiet for a minute as he took in the hickeys on Cerina's neck and her undone zipper and belt. "I see; I don't need to say it." He turned away, tears in his eyes.

"Pearl, could you please go get me some more hot water? This bowl is all full of blood and mud." Leo asked.

"Sure." Pearl left the room.

"What is it my son?" Master Splinter asked.

"Who would be so cruel as to do something like this?" Leo had to blink tears from his eyes as Cerina moaned. He had just pulled a leaf out of the wound on her stomach.

"Bastards." Raph said as he came into the room.

"My son, please do not use such harsh language. Though they do deserve it." Splinter put a hand on Leo's back.

"Do you really think that they were clients of Artanis?" Mikey asked.

"Who knows? Pearl 'n' Cerina never really said what type a business Artanis ran." Raph moved over to the window and looked out. "Do ya think they're still out there?"

"Who knows?" Don whispered.

"Here you go Leo." Pearl said as she came back into the room. She set the bowl on the bedside table and crawled back to her spot.

"Don, come look at this." Leo straightened out his back while Don scooted closer. "Does that need stitches?" Leo pointed to the gash on Cerina's left arm.

"It doesn't look to be that deep, just nasty. Clean it up and put a bandage on it and it should be fine." Don examined Cerina's other wounds. None of them were deep enough to need stitches, but all of them were dirty and already infected.

"Thanks. Pearl, could you check her head for me? See if there are any wounds." Leo started cleaning the arm wounds.

"Yep." Pearl let go of Cerina's hand and gently checked her head. "Here, there's one behind her right ear."

"Is it bleeding?"

"No, it just looks swollen and scabbed."

"'K." Leo sighed and rinsed his rag again. He stood, leaned over Cerina, and gently turned her head to the left. He cleaned up the bump as best as he could before he knelt down again. "I....uh...Pearl..."

"Yeah?"

"Could you check....er..." Leo rubbed the back of his neck and silently pleaded with Pearl to finish his thought for him.

"Sure, Leo." Pearl switched places with Mikey. "You'll have to close your eyes though. If there are any wounds, I can clean them." She held out her hand for the rag. Leo rinsed it out before he handed it over. "Thank you. Now, no peeking!" Pearl tried to smile, but it didn't come out so well. She made sure all turtles were looking away or had closed eyes before she carefully slid Cerina's pants down. She checked her legs very carefully for any wounds but only saw that she had almost been rubbed raw. Pearl pulled her sister's pants back up and decided that, when Cerina was better, she would never let her forget about this little incident. "Alright. You can look. She's fine." Pearl also made a split second decision that she wouldn't let Leo know that Cerina _had_ been raped—what looked like several times.

"That's a relief." Leo stood up and reached for the bowl, but Raph got it first.

"I'll take it bro 'n' I'm sorry. About the door thing."

"Thank you and it's alright Raph." Leo clasped his brother's shell for a moment.

"I'm feeling very tired all of a sudden." Don stood up and hobbled out of the room and into his.

"I'm gonna go check on Donny." Mikey slid out of the room.

"I will be just next door if you need me my son. Take care and do not worry too much. She is strong and she will be alright." Master Splinter hugged his son before he left too.

"Well, I guess everyone's trying to give you some 'alone time' with Cerina. Do you want me to leave too?" Pearl asked.

"She's your sister, I wouldn't dream of asking you to leave her while she was like this just so I could be alone with her." Leo knelt by the edge of the bed and took one of Cerina's hands.

"That's true, but I still think I should leave." Pearl slid off the bed and walked out of the room, closing the door behind her.

"Cerina..." Leo whispered. "I'm so sorry. I should have gone looking for you when you didn't come back right away." He cradled her face in one of his hands. "Because of that....you were...you could have..." Leo couldn't finish his thought out loud. He just stared at her face as tears began to flow down his cheeks. He soon fell asleep, still holding her hand and kneeling by the bed.

"So, is there a reason why you all ditched your brother?" Pearl asked as she joined everyone on the second floor.

"He looked like he needed to cry. Leo's not one for crying in front of people—except maybe Master Splinter." Don said as he adjusted his leg.

"It used to be that he would storm off pretending to be mad so that we would leave him alone for a while so he could cry." Mikey held out his arms for Pearl. She sat by him and snuggled into his shell. "It wasn't until I walked in on him crying that I figured it out."

"I'm surprised that you left though, Pearl." Raph was staring out of the window at the forest.

"I figured that since you all left with pathetic excuses, I should too." Pearl muttered, she was almost asleep. "She's gonna be fine...right.....?" Pearl's voice trailed off as she fell asleep.

"She's gonna be wonderful." Mikey whispered as he kissed the top of her head. He changed into a human so that Pearl would be more comfortable.

"You guys hungry?" Raph asked.

"No, why?" Don turned down the volume from the TV so that it wasn't more than a murmur in the background.

"Because it's almost noon." Mikey whispered.

"I'm proud of ya Mikey, ya didn't even have ta look at a clock." Raph smacked the back of his head then headed down the stairs.

"He doesn't have to be so mean all the time." Don started flipping through channels.

"Mmm..." Cerina stirred and woke up Leo. He looked at the time, it was five o'clock, and moved to sit on the edge of the bed. His muscles were stiff from sleeping hunched over like he was, but that didn't matter. She was waking up.

"Cerina, honey?" Leo caressed her face with his free hand.

She groaned and held her breath for a moment before she groaned again.

"Cerina..." Leo rested his hand at the nape of her neck.

"...No..." she muttered as her face clouded.

"Cerina?"

"...Stop it....get off of me...." She cringed away from something. "Please...no..." her voice was getting stronger. She started to thrash.

"Cerina, c'mon and wake up honey." Leo caressed her face again.

"NO!" she screamed as she sat bolt right up in the bed. "NO!!" She pushed against Leo trying to get away from him.

"Cerina, it's me, Leo. Please, open your eyes." he kept one hand on her face and he slipped the other around her back in case she lost the precious little strength she had.

"STOP!!" she yelled again. The bedroom door opened and soon everyone was standing the doorway, trying to see what was going on and if they could help somehow.

"Cerina....c'mon honey, it's just a dream. Open your eyes. You know I won't hurt you." Leo continued to soothe Cerina in his calm, even voice.

"Please..." She pushed against him again and turned her head away. "...don't..." Her voice trailed off again as she slipped into a better dream. Leo laid her back down and sighed. He looked up to his family in the door. Splinter was just about to say something when Cerina sat up and called out again.

"LEONARDO!!!" this cry chilled all of them. It was full of fear, pleading, and longing all at once.

"I'm here." he put his arms around her again.

"Leonardo..." she said again, quieter this time. She was still asleep. "Please....help me..." she whispered.

"Cerina, I'm here. Open your eyes. You'll find me." he whispered. Her eyes fluttered open.

"Leo..nar..do..?" she reached up and touched his face.

"I'm here, you don't have to be scared anymore." After a moment, tears burst from her eyes and she threw her arms around his neck. He just held her closer. Everyone at the door just quietly backed out and shut the door. "Shh..." He rubbed her back and tried to sooth her.

"I was so scared..." Cerina whispered through her sobs.

"Do you want to tell me?"

"I...I killed someone." Cerina squeezed Leo tighter. "A lot of someones. I've never done that before."

"Oh babe, it'll be alright. I...I've killed people too." he rubbed her arms.

"Really?" Cerina pushed away from Leo to look in his eyes.

"Yeah. I didn't like it either, but there was no other choice. It was either me and my brothers, or the bad guys. I had to choose between them, and I chose my family." Leo cradled her face in his hand again.

"Where you horrified after?"

"For days. Ask my family. I was useless for a long time. I wouldn't eat or sleep. All I did was train but that didn't help anything either. It just reminded me of what happened."

"Does it ever go away?" Cerina looked down at her lap.

"The memories?"

She nodded, her head felt heavy.

"Eventually. I found it easier to focus on what I had saved, rather than what I had lost."

She nodded again, behind her ear was pounding.

"Cerina, tell me what you saved by killing these men."

"Besides my own life?" She wiped away a few tears and winced when she brushed the gash on her cheek.

"Uh-huh."

She was quiet for a long time before she shrugged. "I don't know."

"Let me help." Leo's voice was strong and confidant. Cerina felt better just by listening to him talk. "You gave Pearl back her only family—besides us turtles." Cerina half laughed and half sobbed. "You've saved my sanity from the brink of extinction. Plus you up-held Don's honor and resolved what ever business Artanis left unfinished."

"His business!" Cerina gasped and grabbed a handful of his shirt, "Leonardo, it was horrible!" her eyes widened at the memory of what she had learned. "He was an assassin! He wanted me to take over his business when he died, and—and" tears started to come to her eyes again.

"What? You can tell me." Leo used the edge of his sleeve to wipe a tear from her cheek.

"Well, I figured this first part out a while ago, but Artanis killed my father. What I didn't know was that he also arranged it for my mother to be killed too." She couldn't hold back the tears and the more she cried, the more her injuries hurt her and that made her cry even more. Leo just held her and tried to offer her some comfort, though no more was said that day and he stayed with her long after she had cried herself to sleep. Once he was sure she wasn't going to wake up for a long time, he left the room for a moment.

Everyone was upstairs. Pearl and Mikey were sitting on the roof just beside one of the windows, Splinter was meditating, while Donny and Raph were half-heartedly watching a movie. Leo crossed straight to the open window and leaned out. He held out a hand when Pearl started to speak. "She's fine. She's been asleep for a long time now."

"Is she in a lot of pain?" Pearl asked, worry clear on her face and in her voice.

"Some, but that's to be expected. Pearl, I must ask you a question."

"Alright..." Pearl suddenly sounded suspicious.

"It's about Artanis. Do you know what he did in his business?"

"Well...no. He never told us about it. Only that one day he hoped to have Cerina's help in it. Why?"

"And about your mother, how did she die?"

"In a car accident."

"Your father?"

"Murdered, but why are you asking these questions?"

"Cerina gave me some rather disturbing news." Leo glanced over his shoulder to find that everyone had gathered around him, except Donny who was still sitting on the couch, but had turned around. "Come inside and sit down." Leo stepped back for Mikey to climb through. He helped Pearl off the windowsill and over to the couch before he continued explaining. "Cerina found out who those men were. They were clients of Artanis and that his business was less then honorable. Much less."

"Did he run a whore house?" Mikey asked and was rewarded by getting hit by Raph.

"No, he was an assassin."

"What?" Pearl whispered, her face drained of color.

"Apparently, Artanis murdered your father and—for whatever reasons—wanted to kill your mother also. He arranged for another car to run into your mother's in that intersection. Got two targets in one foul deed."

"He wouldn't!"

"He did and those men came to get Cerina to take over Artanis' business!" Leo shifted uncomfortably. During the last half hour or so before Cerina fell asleep, she had told him everything Romero said and did to her. If she hadn't have killed them all, he decided that he would have hunted them down and committed the deed himself.

"I can't believe it..." Pearl hung her head and covered her face with her hands. Mikey put his arms around her. "Cerina must have been shattered to find out. She had just come to respect him and even to love him...now this? What must have been going through her head when he told her?"

"Well, I'd better get back to her. She'll get hysterical if she wakes up and someone's not there." Leo began walking away when Pearl caught his arm.

"I'll go. I want to be with her."

"Alright, but if you need me, just yell." Leo squeezed her shoulder before returning to sit with his brothers.

"Mmm." Pearl hurried down the stairs and into her room. She carefully sat on the bed next to her sister. "You dope." She whispered. "You are always getting hurt to protect me. Foot ninja, Purple Dragons, Artanis, strange men...and the list goes on." Cerina groaned and shifted a little, "One of these days you're gonna get yourself killed. You should have at least taken Leo with you. Then maybe things wouldn't have been so bad." Pearl took a handful of Cerina's black hair and began to braid it.

"At least you didn't get hurt. That was all I was hoping for." Cerina whispered as her eyes fluttered opened.

"Did I wake you?" Pearl asked, suddenly worried.

"No, I woke up just before Leonardo left. I figured that he needed some time to explain things to you." Cerina's voice was still rough and harsh from the yelling.

"How are you feeling?"

"Better now that I've slept some. I thought I'd have nightmares, but surprisingly I didn't."

"It must have been because Leo was with you."

"That could have been it." Cerina sat up with a grimace, "Boy, I need a shower!" she tried to laugh.

"I don't know if that's a good idea Cerina..." Pearl hesitated.

"It would clean some of the forest off of me and it would give me a chance to relax my muscles. They're so tense, I'm surprised I'm not shaking." she actually managed a smile. "I could also do with a change of clothes..." Cerina looked down at the dirty and torn clothes she was wearing.

"Well, only if you let me help you."

"That's a pleasant thought." Cerina laced her voice with sarcasm.

"It's the only way you'll get a bath or shower. Unless, of course, you can get Leo to help you."

"Would he?" Cerina pretended to be very eager.

"No."

"Crap..." Cerina swung her legs over the edge of the bed. "Help me stand up. I don't want to fall over again."

"Right." Pearl slid off the bed and helped her sister stand up. "I guess this is pay back for all the times I was sick and you had to help me."

"Damn right it is." Cerina managed a chuckle.

"Hang on," Pearl said when they reached the bedroom door. "LEO!" she yelled.

"What?" Leo said as he came running down the stairs.

"Don't worry, nothing's happened. She just wants a bath. I figured I'd better tell you so you don't come into our room and freak out because we're not there." Pearl quickly explained. Leo had had quite the worried look on his face when he saw Cerina standing.

"Alright, but don't lock the door."

"Why? Do you plan on joining me?" Cerina teased.

"N-no." Leo blushed, "It's just in case you pass out again and Pearl can't get you out, or you slip and fall and break a leg or your neck, or you black out and drowned, or something like that."

"I'm so glad that I have your vote of confidence." Cerina smiled. Leo had been so kind to her; letting her cry and blabber about things, calming her down when she started to have bad dreams, taking care of her wounds. She didn't know how she could ever repay his kindness.

"C'mon, before I drop you on purpose." Pearl steered Cerina past Splinter's bedroom and into the bathroom.

"You want to know something I've never understood?" Cerina asked after Pearl closed the bathroom door.

"Tell me." Pearl sat Cerina down on lid of the toilet.

"I don't understand why that whole wall facing the ocean is glass. What if there was a boat of pirates just off of shore and they had one of those cool looking glasses. They could see right in and watch you take a shower or bath." Cerina said this with a completely straight face.

"Cerina, you did get enough sleep right?" Pearl asked as she began to fill the Jacuzzi with luke-warm water.

"Leo gave me a shot of morphine." Cerina pulled off what was left of her shirt. "Do I need to take these bandages off too?"

"Yeah, then Leo can put fresh on after we've cleaned you up." Pearl got a towel ready and pulled the shampoo and conditioner out from a cupboard under the sink.

"'K." Cerina gritted her teeth and pulled off the large patch of gauze from her stomach wound. She wadded it up, dropped it on the counter, and began to pull off the ones from her arms.

"C'mon. You'll need to take your pants off too." Pearl rolled her eyes. She would find a way to make Cerina pay for this embarrassment. No one wanted to see their sister naked—in a bikini or something like that was fine. Pearl didn't have a problem with that.

"I can't stand up without your arm." Cerina giggled. The morphine was starting to take effect and Cerina was always giggly and loopy at first when she had morphine, but after a while it knocked her out and she had no energy.

"Fine, come on then." Pearl helped Cerina stand up. "Are you sure you're alright? You looked like you were in so much pain at first."

"I'm fine. It hurt then, that's a no brainer, but the medicine is working now and I feel much better." Cerina stepped carefully into the Jacuzzi and hissed when the water stung the scratches on her legs.

"Let's get you cleaned up then." Pearl sighed and proceeded to help Cerina get clean. She was scrubbed her hair—being careful of the lump behind her ear—and carefully cleaned each wound. After several minutes Cerina was all clean. "There you are. Do you want to get out now, or sit there for a while?"

"Can I sit?" Cerina was starting to get sleepy again.

"Sure, you stay there. I'm just going to change out this water. It's muddy and full of dried blood." Pearl drained the water and refilled it with warm water.

"Mmm....thank you Pearl..." Cerina laid her head back against the back of the Jacuzzi.

"Don't you fall asleep on me!" Pearl gently tugged on a lock of Cerina's hair. "I'll have a hard enough time getting you out of here as it is."

"That's nice..." Cerina started to drift off.

"If you fall asleep, I'll tell Leo that I need help getting you out of the tub. He'll see you naked."

"You wouldn't!" Cerina squealed.

"I would!" Pearl threatened.

"Fine, I'm awake. Not that I would mind the punishment..." she muttered.

"Cerina!"

"I'm just saying that he'd be too embarrassed! It's not me I'm worried about."

"Whatever. Look, the sun is coming up. I guess that's why this whole wall is glass. Do you see how pretty it is Sissy?" Pearl smiled as she remembered watching the sunrise with Mikey. Raph was there too, but to Pearl, Mikey was all that mattered besides Cerina.

"I see it. It's beautiful." Cerina smiled softly, despite the pain in her cheek, and found that she couldn't stop smiling. She reached up and held Pearl's hand. "Thank you Sissy, for all your help. I know I'm a pain and sometimes you don't think I'm worth it, but thank you none-the-less."

"Don't talk like that. Of course you're worth it. Every pain-in-the-butt moment." Pearl said and they both laughed and laughed. Cerina didn't care that she was in pain, or that her gut ached. She didn't care—at the moment—that she had killed tons of men she didn't know or that she had been raped. She did care that she was alive, with her sister, and in love with a wonderful man/turtle.


	9. Chapter 9

**Chapter 9**

"Cerina, I don't think you should be moving around so soon." Donny complained as Cerina joined the turtles on the beach.

"'So soon'!?" Cerina sat next to Leo with a groan, "You kept me bed-ridden for three days! I get restless! I can't sit still that long!" She squigged her toes into the sand. "Plus we're leaving here tomorrow and I have a question."

Mikey was about to say something, but instead he got a mouth full of muddy sand—thrown by Raph. Pearl giggled. "What question?" he said around the mud.

"It's simple. Do you want to light off the legal fireworks that I brought, or the illegal ones?"

"You brought fireworks!?" Mikey exclaimed jumping up.

"Of course I did." Cerina laughed, "You can't come to a beach house and stay for a week without lighting off fireworks!"

"I say the illegal ones." Raph aimed a mud pie for the back of Donny's head.

"I think the legal ones would be safer." Don said right before the mud pie hit its target. He turned and almost backhanded Raph, but the younger turtle was just out of reach.

"I think the illegal ones are more fun." Pearl said as she put a stick in the top of the sand mound she'd been building.

"I say we should light off all of um!!!" Mikey started jumping up and down, which gave him the prefect momentum to dodge another flying mud pie from Raph—only trouble is, is that he didn't when he could've.

"Master Splinter, what do you say?" Cerina threw a rock into the side of Pearl's mound and it made a nice little cave entrance.

"I want to know how you got the illegal ones, my student." Splinter said with a sly smile.

"That's what I was thinking." Leo tugged on Cerina's braid.

"Well...I know some people. But that doesn't answer my question." Cerina tried to hid a sly smile. It was really Casey who gave her the illegal ones. He'd won them off of a friend in a poker game and didn't know what else to do with them.

"I think if we have time, we should light them all off." Leo said as he undid Cerina's braid.

"I guess that settles it. We'll start right after Leonardo cooks us dinner." Cerina pulled her hair out of Leo's grasp and re-did her braid.

"Hey, why do I always have to cook?" Leo complained.

"Because you're the only one who can cook something that isn't burned." Don stretched out his injured leg—which was healing nicely and he could almost walk without a limp.

"Cerina can cook." Pearl pointed out.

"I refuse to cook." Cerina stood up.

"Why?" Trust Mikey to ask a stupid question.

"Because it's too soon for me to me up and about." Cerina winked at Don, and tagged Mikey 'it'. She ran away laughing and soon everybody joined in—even Master Splinter!

Later that night, after dinner, they lit off the fireworks and played on the beach for the last time. They went to bed and, in the morning, they headed back to New York.

"Mikey! You lazy turtle! Get out of bed or we'll be late to school!" Donny pounded on his younger brother's door.

"Good luck with that." Raph jumped over the railing of the second floor and scared Pearl by landing right in front of her. "Sorry Pearl." Raph apologized. "Didn't mean ta scare ya." He dodged a jab from her.

"You heading out already Raph?" Leo asked as he got his breakfast.

"Yeah. I got a track meet ta practice for. Oh, that reminds me. Donny, did you finish those shoes?" Raph called up to Don.

"Yeah, they're by your bike." Don jumped down and joined his brothers.

"Thanks. You are the turtle!" Raph slapped his brother's shell as he phased into a human and he left the lair.

"Shoes? What shoes?" Pearl asked while she sat next to Cerina at the table.

"For some reason that I didn't want to know, Raph wanted me to fill the souls of his running shoes with lead." Don poured himself a mug of coffee.

"Lead? Like the stuff that comes out of pencils?" Pearl looked from once face to the next.

"Yep. I guess it's to help him run slower."

"Why would anyone want to run slower if they were on a track team?" Cerina pushed her empty bowl away and leaned on the table.

"Because he can easily beat anyone from any school without them." Don put two pieces of bread into the toaster.

"That makes sense." Cerina stood up and left to find her shoes.

"Don, if you don't leave now you'll be late." Leo stood up and lifted his bag onto the table.

"I know." Don sighed and yelled, "MIKEY! NOW!"

"COMING!" Mikey yelled as he opened his door, jumped down—because why use stairs when you're an awesome ninja?—and grabbed the toast that just popped up out of the toaster. "I'm ready." Mikey panted.

"About time too." Donny led the way to the elevator-thing. "Goodbye Father!" he called as they passed Splinter's room.

"So, are we all going to pile in Don's car again?" Cerina asked when they reached the garage.

"Nope, Donny fixed my bike." Leo led the way around Don's car and pulled back a sheet to reveal a midnight blue motorcycle.

"Oh..." Was all Cerina could manage. She ran her hand along the seat. "It's so pretty..."

"Do you want a ride?" Leo laughed.

"Is the sky blue?" Cerina loved answering stupid questions with rhetorical questions.

"Alright. You can use my spare helmet." Leo handed a black helmet to Cerina before putting on his own and climbing onto his bike and started it. He adjusted his backpack and patted the seat behind him. Cerina put on her helmet and climbed on behind Leo. "Hold on!" Leo called as he revved up his bike and shot out in front of Don right as he was pulling out. Don yelled something and laid on his horn. Cerina could feel Leo shake as he laughed. She smiled and squeezed tighter.

They made it to school long before Don, Mikey, and Pearl. The only problem was that the 'Jones' Fan Club' president arrived at the same time Leo and Cerina did. She was outraged and came storming over in a fluster. "What do you think you're doing coming to school with Leonardo?" she got right up into Cerina's face. "And srattaling him on the back of a motorcycle!" She turned to Leo, "And when did you get a motorcycle?" She stuck her face back into Cerina's. "And, would you like to explain why you and your sister were absent from school for the same week that Jones' were?"

"Hey, Abbey, lay off of her." Leo put his arm around Cerina's waist. "She's with me and is going to be for a very long time. I don't want to hear anything more about it." Leo led Cerina away from the stunned, stuttering Abbey and into the school.

"Wait, Leonardo." Cerina stopped and Leo turned to face her.

"Yeah?"

"Did you really mean that? About me being with you?" Cerina didn't dare raise her voice above a low whisper because of all the people in the hallways.

"Of course I did. I wouldn't have said it if I didn't want it to be that way." Leo smiled and took her hand. "Unless you don't want to be with me..." His face fell a little at the thought.

"Why in the world would I want to do something like that?" Cerina stood on tiptoe and kissed Leo's cheek right in front of the watching crowd. "After all we've been through together."

"That's what I was hoping to hear." Leo interlocked fingers with Cerina and they walked to ceramics. Once they were in and seated, Raph walked in with a few of his 'punk' friends. Leo groaned and rubbed his temples.

"You okay?" Cerina asked.

"These guys give me a headache." He whispered as they came closer.

"Leo, bro, I gotta favor ta ask." Raph leaned on his brother's shoulder.

"What is it now Raph?" Leo asked, but before Raph could answer the 'fan club' president came in again with a very large group of girls. "Oi." He muttered.

"Cerina, could we speak with you alone for a moment?" Asked Abbey.

"Don't do it." Leo mouthed.

Cerina rolled her eyes. "Yeah." she got up and followed the group of girls into the courtyard—they passed up Don, Pearl, and Mikey on the way there. "Alright, we're alone. What do you want?"

"We want you to break up with Leonardo." Abbey folded her arms.

"Not a chance." Cerina also folded her arms.

"We will ask you one more time. Break up with Leonardo or you'll be sorry."

"And what exactly are you going to do to make me?" Cerina smirked.

"I didn't want to have to do this, but you give me no choice." Abbey snapped her fingers and several girls walked forward holding wooden sticks. They were trying to look threatening, but to Cerina, they just looked comical.

"And am I supposed to be scared?"

"Once they start, I won't stop them. Even if you cry out for mercy."

"Not likely." Cerina muttered with a chuckle.

"What was that?" Abbey snapped.

"I was just thinking about how badly I'm gonna want you guys to stop...but Leonardo's just _so_ wonderful when we're alone, that it's worth it." Cerina mocked them as she played to their fears and suspicions.

"You what!?" Abbey and the others looked outraged. "You mean to tell me that you've gone that far already!?"

"I never said that, you assumed that's what I said. Now, are you going to beat me up, or just stand there all day?" Cerina slid her right foot back ever so slightly.

"You asked for it! How dare you lead our precious Leonardo away like that? How dare you defile him like that you little siren!!!" Abbey snapped her fingers and the girls with sticks ran at Cerina.

Cerina just laughed and blocked every attack. One girl got lucky and hit Cerina's cheek—the one that was injured at the beach house. She stopped and put her hand up to her face, it'd started bleeding again. Abbey started to look triumphant, but her face fell when she saw Cerina look up at her from behind her bangs. There was a look in Cerina's eyes that Abbey had never seen before. It was pure anger.

"Okay, now I'm mad." Cerina hissed, her voice was low and rough. That little smack to her cheek had brought back some memories that Cerina had been trying to make fade. She lunged at Abbey. A few girls who thought that they were something jumped in front of Cerina, but she just broke their sticks and knocked them out. Soon, every girl was either unconscious or had ran away. It was just Cerina and Abbey.

"Hey, c-c'mon now...b-be reasonable." Abbey stuttered as Cerina slowly walked towards her.

"I am being reasonable. You threatened me and I'm just defending myself." Cerina took a few more steps towards Abbey.

"I-I'm sorry. You can stay with Leonardo. I don't mind. I'm sure that the others would agree with me. You're prefect for him." Abbey tried to back up, but her back was against the ivy walkway. Cerina raised her fist like she was going to hit Abbey. "I'll do anything, just don't hurt me!" Abbey whimpered as she cringed away.

"Anything?" Cerina smiled to herself as she remembered the time Raph threw her in the ocean.

"Yes, just don't hurt me!"

"Well, that's easy." Cerina lowered her arm and Abbey glanced up. "Lay off of me and Leonardo." she turned and started heading out of the courtyard—just before she climbed through the boards, she turned back to Abbey. "And while you're at it, you can leave my sister and Mikey alone as well." she climbed out and headed back to class. She made it just in time; smiling at the teacher as she took her seat between Pearl and Leonardo.

"What was that about?" Pearl asked.

"Nothing."

"Your cheek is bleeding again." Leo said as he used his sleeve to wipe up the blood.

"The fan girls just tried to intimidate me." Cerina whispered as the teacher started giving instructions. "Don't worry, I'm fine. I'm also sure that those girls won't bother you guys again." Cerina smile and pulled out her clay.

"What did you do to them?" Pearl asked in a knowing tone.

Cerina just smiled and shook her head.

The months passed and it was now winter break—New Years Eve to be exact. Donny had started dating a brainiac girl from his club, but it wasn't too serious. Raph started picking up chicks at bars and clubs—and we all know how those girls can be sometimes. Let's just say he hardly spends a night at the lair anymore. As for Leo, Cerina, Mikey, and Pearl...their relationships couldn't be any better. Or so they thought.

"Splinter, is it alright if we go topside and watch the fireworks?" Mikey asked.

"Yeah, Master is it alright?" Pearl joined Mikey in begging.

"You know, if you guys keep begging, he's going to say 'no' just to teach us lesson." Leo said from the couch as he channel surfed.

"He's got a point." Cerina called from the kitchen.

"But if we keep buggin' him, he'll have to let us go so he can get some peace and quiet." Mikey pointed out.

"He's also got a point." Cerina said as she came out of the kitchen with a drink for Leo.

"And I have considered both points." Master Splinter said, laughing, "And I've decided to go with Michelangelo's point. Go, before you drive me insane." Splinter looked at Mikey with an expression that they all had a hard time reading.

"Awesome!" Mikey phased to human form, took Pearl's hand, and pulled her out of the lair. "Thank you!" they heard his voice echo back.

"Great," Cerina stood up and walked back into the kitchen. "She forgot her coat and she's going to turn into a Popsicle." Cerina walked back out holding Pearl's coat.

"Then let's take it to her. I know about where they're going to be." Leo stood up and phased into a human.

"First, my son, could you go and check on Raphael?" Splinter sounded like he was lying. "I don't know if he's out with Casey or another girl." Splinter took Leo's vacated spot on the couch.

"Yes Father." Leo shrugged as he helped Cerina put on her coat. They left the lair, went topside, and stood in the middle of the street for a moment. "Where in the world do you think Raph could be?"

"Why don't we start with Casey?" Cerina pulled her coat closed.

"I'll call him. I really don't feel like running all over shell tonight." Leo pulled out his shell-cell and made the call. He hung up the phone with a sigh. "He's not there. April and Casey are having some 'alone time'." Leo nodded towards a fire escape and they jumped up.

"I say we check Central Park. I've heard Raph say something about meeting girls there several times."

"Good idea." Leo took off in the direction of Central Park with Cerina close behind.

They got there a few minutes later and started looking for Raph. After about half-an-hour, they found him and a girl sitting on a bench making-out. "It looks like he's eating her face." Cerina said as they hid in the shadows.

"It really does..." Leo pulled a face before he stood up and held his hand out for Cerina. "C'mon. Let's leave them alone and go find Mikey and Pearl."

"Great. I'm getting sick of carrying her coat around." Cerina muttered as she and Leo took off again. "Exactly how do you plan on finding them? There are a million rooftops that they could be on."

"True, but only one has the best view of fireworks." Leo reached out and took Cerina's hand as he led the way towards a rooftop that only he and his brothers knew.

Cerina was just about to start complaining when Leo suddenly stopped. "Are we there?"

"Shh..." Leo stepped to the side and pointed. Cerina followed the line of his finger and what she saw made her want to cry.

There, illuminated by fireworks, Mikey was down on one knee with a small box in one hand and Pearl's hand in his other. He said something and Pearl fell to her knees and threw her arms around his neck. When she pulled back, Mikey took a ring out of the box and put it on Pearl's left ring finger. They stood up and kissed; Mikey picked her up and spun her around a few times before setting her back down.

"Well, now we know what he was doing in Splinter's room for so long last night." Leo slipped his arm around Cerina's waist.

Cerina just nodded. She couldn't speak, and was starting to tear-up. Her baby sister was going to get married. "C'mon. They knew we were going to follow them. Plus, Pearl will want to tell me." Cerina smiled and tilted her head to the side as she looked at Leo.

"Alright." Leo laughed and they jumped down onto the rooftop.

"SISSY!" Pearl squealed and glomped Cerina. "You'll never guess what just happened!"

"I probably won't so tell me, after you put your coat on!" Cerina smiled and handed the coat over.

"Mikey proposed! We're gonna get married!" Pearl was so excited she could barely contain it. She held out her left hand and showed Cerina the ring. It was a large sapphire flanked by smaller emeralds, rubies, and diamonds on a thin silver band.

"It's beautiful! It's an elemental ring right? You've always wanted one for water." Cerina hugged her sister.

"I can't believe it!" Pearl jumped up and down as Cerina steered her back over and into Mikey's open and ready arms.

Cerina sat next to Leo on a ledge and leaned into him. "I can't believe it." She echoed in a whisper.

"What?" Leo asked over the boom of a firework.

"That anything like this could happen. I mean, my sister is marrying a turtle and I've never seen her happier, we're living with said turtles, I'm being taught martial arts by a giant rat, I know the truth about how and why I was raised, and I've finally found the man of my dreams!" Cerina laughed. "Things like this aren't real! Stuff like this only ever happens in fairy-tales."

Leo twisted and lifted Cerina's chin up with his hand. He looked into her eyes and smiled softly. "Baby, anything can be real." He leaned down and kissed her for the first time.

**The End**

(I think I'm going to cry...)


	10. Chapter 8 Version 2

Chapter 8

Leo paced by the front door. They had moved Donny to the couch in front of the fire place with his head in Raph's lap. Mikey was holding Pearl, who was silently crying. Splinter was making tea. Cerina had been gone for twenty minutes. It had taken Leo ten of those minutes to convince Pearl that she needed to stay in the house. He wished he could have made Cerina stay. There was a storm moving in and lightning flashed outside the window.

"Leo, stop pacin'. You're givin' me a head ache." Raph complained over the roll of thunder.

"Sorry Raph." Leo slid down the wall to sit on the floor by the door. He closed his eyes and leaned his head back against the wall. 'I really hope that Cerina is alright.' He thought. 'She seemed tense.' They were all silent for another few minutes before Leo couldn't take it any more. "Pearl, do you know what's going on?"

"Uh-huh." She shook her head and clung tighter to Mikey's shirt.

"Anything at all? Who those men were? What they wanted with Cerina? Anything?" Leo pressed.

"Leo, she said she doesn't know so don't pester her!" Mikey snapped.

"It's okay Mikey. I understand where he's coming from. I was worried too." Pearl whispered.

"'Was'? You mean to say that you're not worried about her anymore?" Mikey asked. Leo was shocked that Mikey picked up on that little detail.

"Well, I _am_ still worried, but not as bad anymore." Pearl wiped the tears from her cheeks.

"Why not?" Raph asked, greatful for some kind of conversation.

"She has the katanas with her. They were Artanis' and I'm sure that his strength is with her...whatever she's doing."

"I thought that those two didn't get along?" Mikey asked.

"They didn't, do you remember that letter I told you about? The one that I kinda stole from Cerina and read it without her permission?" Pearl sat up to look at Mikey's face.

"The one you guys fought over? I remember."

"Well...it was from Artanis. It had been folded up and put in the bottom of one of the katanas he gave her. I won't tell you everything it said, but in that letter he finally told Cerina that he was proud of her and everything she did and that he loved her. It had a big impact on her, she respects him now. She forgave him for everything that he did to her. All of the trips to the emergency room, the stab wound, being so harsh on her..stuff like that. I believe that when she uses those katanas, she's remembering all of his lessons, and teachings as well as...other memories. She will become much stronger than normal when she uses those."

"That was quite the explanation Pearl." Mikey leaned back into the couch.

"She has a point." Leo whispered.

"Agreed." Splinter said as he came back into the room and set the tea on the coffee table. They were silent after that. Waiting and wondering what was going on in the forest.

Cerina panted as she wiped the sweat off her brow and tried to catch her breath. She was up in a tree and the men didn't know where she was. To be honest, she didn't know what all of this was about, but if it was a debt that Artanis owed, she would pay it off...getting revenge for Donny at the same time. She had forgotten her watch, but she figured they had been at it for fifteen or twenty minutes. She shivered. A storm was coming in. She carefully peered down and saw one of the men beneath her tree. She took one of the large rocks from her lap and dropped it on his head. Before the others were alerted to her location, she had already moved to another tree several yards away from the previous one.

"Come on out Serenity, we just want to talk." Yelled the leader.

Cerina took a breath and threw her voice away from her true location. "If you just wanted to talk, why did you come at me with swords drawn?"

"We figured that you'd have your father's attitude and we were right. We decided that it would be better to be safe rather then sorry." The leader moved in on the spot her voice had come from.

"I'm not there." Cerina wanted to see if she could mess with there heads.

"Not where?"

"In that bush you're all crowding around. Even if I was, do you think I'd let you surround me?"

"But—?" The leader thrust his katana into the bush and then spread the branches. He quickly straightened and looked around. "Very clever. You can throw your voice." He made a slow circle—scanning the undergrowth of the forest. "It's a nice trick, but you won't be able to hide forever." He signaled for his men to fan out and search the general area.

"If you would tell me what you wanted from Artanis, I might be able to help you." She threw her voice to a different spot.

"That's just the thing, we need your help seems as Artanis is no longer living."

"What do you need help with?" Cerina moved silently to a different tree again.

"Artanis promised us that if he didn't finish a job, you would. He also told us that you'd be taking over his business once you got his katanas. Seems as you have them, you must be running his business."

"I don't know what your talking about. Artanis left me these katanas in his will and I never knew what he did in that stupid business of his." She threw her voice again.

"You mean to tell me that he never recruited your services before?"

"No." Cerina tried to figure out what this crazed man was talking about. Why would Artanis have needed her help in his 'business'. She'd always figured he'd give it to Pearl, seems as she was his favorite.

"I guess I'd better be the one to explain. Why don't you come out of hiding so we can talk like civilized people?"

"Why don't you sheath your weapons and put them on the ground?" Cerina peered around the trunk so she could see the men better.

"Alright, we'll put them away and on the ground." the man sheathed his katana, but didn't put it on the ground. "There, away and out of reach. Now will you come out?"

"Not a chance. I can see you you know." Cerina clenched the grips of her katanas.

"Fine." He and his men put their weapons on the ground. "How about now?"

"Nope, you already showed me that I can't trust your word. I'll stay where I'm at, you can explain everything just fine without seeing me." Cerina continued to throw her voice to various places. She could tell that the henchmen were getting edgy, but not the leader. He stayed calm and unphased with everything.

"You win." he sighed. "Your guardian ran a very helpful business for people of less then honorable professions. It was one that got rid of bothersome people."

"'Got rid of'?"

"You could say that he permanently put them out of commission."

"He...killed...them...?" Cerina's stomach clenched and her breath caught in her throat.

"Yes. He was one of the greatest assassins New York has ever seen. He assured us that you would take over the business after he left us."

Cerina didn't say anything. She was still trying to breathe and unknot her stomach. Artanis was...an...assassin? That just didn't make sense. She knew that he killed her father, but Artanis said in the letter that—. "Who has he killed?" She asked.

"Several. More than I can count or recall."

"Anyone I know?" Cerina had to force herself to keep her position secret.

"Yeah, two for sure." the man's voice was filled with glee.

"Who?" Cerina pressed.

"A Haru and a Pearl."

"What?" Cerina whispered as lightning lit up the sky and thunder boomed.

"Gottcha!" said the man and there was a gunshot.

The bark next to Cerina's head exploded. She ducked and launched herself into the nearest tree. Gunshots followed her to which ever tree she jumped to. "Shit," she cursed as one bullet grazed her cheek and blood flowed freely down her face and neck. She couldn't lose him, she'd have to face him. She turned around and raced back to where he was standing with his Glock out and firing.

"Finally going to stay and fight?" he asked as Cerina landed in front of him with her katanas at his neck.

"Only if you tell me why he killed Pearl." Rain began to fall.

"That was simple. She slept with his best friend and bore his child. Which I would assume was you. I mean, you look just like Haru."

"Wait..." Cerina's head was spinning...'child'...they didn't know about her twin. Artanis kept her a secret, and so would she. "Why would he kill his wife? Why not just stop at killing my father?"

"You say it so matter-of-fact. I would guess that you knew about that part."

Cerina nodded. Lightning flashed again.

"But not Pearl. Well, the easiest way to explain would be that there were a lot of men angry with Pearl. She was sort of a rare novelty underground. Many people were angry when Artanis snatched her away. After the affair, many men were convinced that she would sleep with them too and they pursued her. Artanis had the choice of fighting for her, which would have been the wise thing, but instead, he took the cowards way out and killed her himself."

"I was told that she died in a car accident." Cerina forced her voice to stay emotionless.

"With Artanis' help. You see, he had another target. He paid the target to run a red light at the same intersection that Pearl would be going through. It was brilliant if you ask me."

"I'm not asking you." Cerina's eyes narrowed. "Who are you?" she asked again.

"How rude of me. The name is Romero."

"What, not last name?"

"Not in this business honey." Romero reached up and fingered the tip of one of her katanas.

"What do you need me for? I'm no assassin and I refuse to take Artanis' place as one." her grip tightened so tight that she thought her knuckles would burst.

"I was hoping that you would change your mind after I told you the target."

"It won't spark my interest."

"Not even if it's one of the Purple Dragons that raped your friend?"

Her breath caught again. "Nope, not even then." her voice wavered a little, but still held strong. She was soaked through and the rain was only falling harder.

"Too bad, because you see, now we either have to try harder to convince you, or we have to kill you. So, which will it be?" Romero reloaded his Glock and his henchmen surrounded Cerina.

"Neither. I'll be the one to kill you." Cerina lowered her left katana from Romero's neck and held it out away from her side.

"It will be fun to see you try, but I recall hearing you say something about not letting yourself get surrounded." Romero smirked.

Cerina snarled as she glanced out of the corner of her eyes. She was surrounded. She had been trying so hard to figure out what Romero was talking about, that she had let her guard down. For now, she decided that she would play it safe. "How else were you going to try to convince me?" she whispered.

"Are you saying you'll do the job?"

"There isn't a chance of that happening. I'm just curious as to what else you've got up your sleeve." she lowered her right katana and held it at her side like the left. It was a simple stance good for offense and defense.

"Boy's why don't we show her?" Romero took a step forward.

"We're up for that boss, just don't hog her all to yourself." said the man on Romero's right.

"Don't worry boy's there will be plenty to go around." Romero leaped forward and clubbed Cerina behind the ear before she could react.

The katanas slipped from her grasp and she fell to her knees. Just like in the alley, her head swam and her vision went blurry. She fought it. There was no way she was going to be knocked out surrounded by men. Romero hit her at the nape of her neck and she fell forward onto her hands. She gritted her teeth and swallowed. Her throat still hurt from her near drowning experience.

"She's tougher than we thought. Looks like we'll get to hear her scream and plead." Romero kicked Cerina's gut and she couldn't hold in the cry of pain. She felt her wound tear open as she landed on her back. "Hmm...didn't think I kicked her that hard. I think she's hiding something. What do you say we take a look?" Romero bent down and pulled her shirt up higher than necessary. "Would you look at that? Our little ninja has a stomach wound." He pressed his hand into it.

"GAH!" Cerina tried to sit up but two of the men came and held her hands down.

"Looks like she's in a lot of pain boys. What could we possibly do to help her forget her painful wound?" Romero's voice was full of mockery.

"Well boss, we could always give some other pain to get her mind off of it." Said the man from before.

"That is a wonderful idea Sean. Would you like to do the honors?"

"I would like to boss, but I know how much you want to." Sean knelt next to Romero. Lightning lit up the sky once again and thunder rolled.

"Thank you Sean. You'll be getting a raise." Romero said with a smirk as two men lifted Cerina by her arms to a kneeling position. He grabbed on of her katanas and smacked her face with the broad end.

"Ugh..." Cerina moaned. She tried to make her mouth form words, but she was having a hard enough time trying stay conscious.

"A little grunt is all I get? I guess I'll have to try harder." he kicked her in gut again and kneed her chin.

"Ahh!" Cerina tried to stand, but Sean and another held her firm.

"It's alright Sean, let her squirm. It doesn't bother me and it only makes her stomach hurt worse. And that means I get to try harder to make her forget her wounds." He kept kicking over and over again. She still couldn't make her tongue work right to form words. She tried to fight back, to dodge somehow, but she couldn't move.

"Boss, I don't think it's working any more." Sean said as he tapped Romero's shoulder.

"You're right. We must go all out." He picked up her other katana "You'll enjoy this Serenity, I'm sure you will." he began to hit her with the katanas, making a cut of varying depths each time.

She tried to fight harder then before. It didn't do any good. Romero just kept hurting her and hurting her for what felt like hours. She found her voice screamed again and again for him to stop. She knew that's just what he wanted, but she couldn't stop herself from pleading and begging. She never once opened her eyes, and she didn't want to. She tried to focus on something—anything—other than the pain. Romero stopped for a brief minute and, after a conversation she couldn't hear above her beating heart, she felt someone's foot connect with her lower back. It was someone else, but she didn't dare look to see who. It felt like hours again and again. She was getting desperate to stop them. She went numb after the fourth person but that didn't stop them. The rain was slowing down, but it was getting colder and she could feel it stinging her face. She started shivering.

The pain dulled for a moment and she knew that the men were switching again. The man holding down her right arm let go. She didn't hesitate or stop to think about the repercussions. She lashed out and felt her hand connect with someone's jaw. She opened her eyes and glanced around her while she hit another guy in the back of the knee. She pulled her left arm free when he let go to help his comrade. She clenched her teeth at the pain and looked around. She forced her body into a back roundoff which through the other two holding her off balance. When she landed she wobbled but stayed on her feet. She stood and blocked a punch from Sean as she spat out a mouth full of blood.

"Get that little bitch!" Romero yelled.

Cerina was a lot slower than normal and her gut and head ached but she kept fighting. Romero came running at her with his katana drawn. She tucked and rolled forward and grabbed her two abandoned katanas she spun and impaled Sean with one and blocked Romero with the other. Blood splattered everywhere. Sean slid off of her blade and landed dead on the ground. The rest of the men ran at her to get revenge, but she made short work of them. Impaling or decapitating them. Soon, Romero was the only one left. She turned to face him. She was now covered in the blood of his men as well as her own. Lightning flashed as the rain receded to a drizzle.

"I'll get you for killing my men." Romero pulled out his Glock but Cerina knocked it away with one of her katanas before he could fire it. "That's okay, I still have this." He unsheathed his katana.

Cerina repeated the words that had started this whole affair. "Just try."

"I will!" Romero ran at Cerina but she just sidestepped and pushed him off balance.

Earlier she had noticed that, though he could hold it right and knew a few stances, he really wasn't that good at Bushido. If she stayed calm—and numb like she was—she could win this and get back to Pearl and Leo's open arms. He lunged again and she stepped back and blocked. That happened a few more times, and Cerina was really getting tired of it when her back hit a tree. He lunged one more time and grazed her left bicep before she could move.

"You're good. Artanis was right when he suggested that you take over after him. You killed all of my men without a thought."

"I'll take that as a compliment." Cerina growled.

"Reconsider. I'll pay you twice as much as I paid Artanis. And I'll give you lots of vacation days, with a pretty and large house. You'll have all the money and property you want."

"Never."

"Suit yourself." Romero ran at Cerina again but this time she just held her blades forward and he ran straight into them. One in his chest and one in his stomach. "Argh........." blood welled up then trailed from between his lips. "Now I know...of the...honor.....it is.......to be.......killed by........an......Orphen...." The light faded from his eyes as he collapsed, sliding off of Cerina's katanas.

She gasped for air, turned, and looked around her. The full impact of what had just happened hit her. She collapsed and vomited. She had killed someone. A lot of someones. She'd never done anything more than knock them out before. She raised a shaking hand to wipe off her mouth but stopped. Both of her hands were smeared with blood. She looked down at the rest of her. Blood was splattered everywhere. "NO!!" She screamed with all of the strength and sanity left in her. She heard her voice echo around her before it faded. She wrapped her arms around her and screamed again and again. Her voice gave out but she continued to yell—or try to—until no sound would come out. She swallowed and picked up the katanas—they felt very heavy.

Cerina staggered to her feet, fell down, pushed herself up, and began walking back to the house. She fell several times and, when she could barely see the house through the trees, she fell again. This time, she didn't try to get up. She just laid there. She didn't know how long she was there, but the morning sun was peaking out from behind the storm clouds. She stirred, groaned, and tried to sit up. There was a lot of mud in her wounds, and she was sure that the lump behind her ear wasn't helping her balance or head ache. Everyone would be worried about her—especially Pearl. She once again staggered to her feet—using her katanas to help her stand—and walked out of the tree line.

It had been a lot darker under the canopy of the trees. The sun was shining bright and reflected off of the white house in a brilliance too great for Cerina's eyes. She shielded them and shuffled up to the house. She tried the door but it didn't open. If she had had the energy, she would have gone around the house to the balcony or through a window—instead she leaned against the door, and dropped a katana as she closed her eyes. She felt about ready to collapse again. She heard voices from the other side of the door. Someone said her name, but she was gone.

"Raph, would you just open the door?" Mikey snapped. It had been a long night and none of them slept, except Donny, who had just woken up from being unconscious.

"Sorry Mikey, what if it was one of those boogie-men that Don was muttering about all night?"

"What if it's Cerina?" Leo folded his arms as he stood behind his youngest brother.

"Most likely not." Raph stretched his arms over his head, but stayed leaning against the door. There was a clatter of metal from just outside the door.

"Raph, move it or I'll have to move you." Leo assumed the 'voice' as he stepped around Mikey and got right in Raph's face. The 'voice' was something he learned from Master Splinter; it was dead serious, and full of command. He only used it when he _was_ dead serious and in no mood to joke (and that was usually when Raph was in one of his 'moods').

"Alright already. Ya don't have ta go all commando on me bro." Raph stepped to the side.

"You don't have to be so mean Raph." Pearl said as she slid into Mikey's arms.

"Tch. Whateva..." Raph muttered as he went up stairs.

Leo opened the door only to have an unconscious Cerina fall into him. He barely caught her, but he was also knocked to the ground. "Cerina?"

"Ah, shit." Pearl groaned as Leo turned Cerina over.

Her head rolled back and away from Leo's body. "Cerina?" He called as he stroked her face on the unwounded side. "Can you hear me?" He was hoping that he could wake her up so he could find out exactly what was wrong.

"What is it? What's wrong?" Don asked as he hobbled over using Splinter's stick.

"It's Cerina. She's covered in blood and I don't know if it's all hers or not." Leo gathered Cerina up into his arms and stood up. He carried her into her room and laid her on the bed. He changed into a human.

"How did she—?" Don began as he sat on the edge of the bed.

"She ran out of the door just after you passed out." Leo explained as he began cleaning Cerina's cheek wound with the warm water Splinter had just brought in.

"Why would she—?" Don started.

"Because she didn't want them coming here and, from what you said, they were after her and her alone." Leo rinsed his rag and began to clean her stomach wound. "She really didn't take care of this did she?" he muttered.

"Cerina has never been one to take good care of herself. She's always too worried about others." Pearl crawled over the bed to sit next to her sister's head. She took one of her hands.

"Do you think she got cut open because she was dodging attacks and really fighting?" Mikey asked.

"No." Leo growled as an angry look clouded his face.

"Why?" Don asked.

"Look for yourself. What do you see?" Leo's voice wasn't more than a whisper.

"Well..." Donny was quiet for a minute as he took in the bruises forming on Cerina's body—both unseen and seen. "I see, I don't need to say it." He turned away, tears in his eyes.

"Pearl, could you please go get me some more hot water? This bowl is already full of blood and mud." Leo asked.

"Sure." Pearl left the room.

"What is it my son?" Master Splinter asked.

"Who would be so cruel as to do something like this?" Leo had to blink tears from his eyes as Cerina moaned. He had just pulled a leaf out of the wound on her stomach.

"Bastards." Raph said as he came into the room.

"My son, please do not use such harsh language. Though they do deserve it." Splinter put a hand on Leo's back.

"Do you really think that they were clients of Artanis?" Mikey asked.

"Who knows? Pearl 'n' Cerina never really said what type a business Artanis ran." Raph moved over to the window and looked out. "Do ya think they're still out there?"

"Who knows?" Don whispered.

"Here you go Leo." Pearl said as she came back into the room. She set the bowl on the bedside table and crawled back to her spot.

"Don, come look at this." Leo straightened out his back while Don scooted closer. "Does that need stitches?" Leo pointed to the gash on Cerina's left arm.

"It doesn't look to be that deep, just nasty. Clean it up and put a bandage on it and it should be fine." Don examined Cerina's other wounds. A few of them were deep enough to need stitches, and all of them were dirty and already infected.

"Thanks. Pearl, could you check her head for me? See if there are any wounds." Leo started cleaning the arm wounds.

"Yep." Pearl let go of Cerina's hand and gently checked her head. "Here, there's one behind her left ear."

"Is it bleeding?"

"No, it just looks swollen and scabbed."

"'K." Leo sighed and rinsed his rag again. He stood, leaned over Cerina, and gently turned her head to the right. He cleaned up the bump as best as he could before he knelt down again. He sighed, rubbed his eyes with his forearm, stood up, and reached for the bowl, but Raph got it first.

"I'll take it bro 'n' I'm sorry. About the door thing."

"Thank you and it's alright Raph." Leo clasped his brother's shell for a moment.

"I'm feeling very tired all of a sudden." Don stood up and hobbled out of the room and into his.

"I'm gonna go check on Donny." Mikey slid out of the room.

"My soaps are on, so I will be just next door if you need me, my son. Take care and do not worry too much. She is strong and she will be alright." Master Splinter hugged his son before he left too.

"Well, I guess everyone's trying to give you some 'alone time' with Cerina. Do you want me to leave too?" Pearl asked.

"She's your sister, I wouldn't dream of asking you to leave her while she was like this just so I could be alone with her." Leo knelt by the edge of the bed and took one of Cerina's hands.

"That's true, but I still think I should leave." Pearl slid off the bed and walked out of the room, closing the door behind her.

"Cerina..." Leo whispered. "I'm so sorry. I should have gone looking for you when you didn't come back right away." He cradled her face in one of his hands. "Because of that....you were...you could have..." Leo couldn't finish his thought out loud. He just stared at her face as tears began to flow down his cheeks. He soon fell asleep, still holding her hand and kneeling by the bed.

"So, is there a reason why you all ditched your brother?" Pearl asked as she joined everyone on the second floor.

"He looked like he needed to cry. Leo's not one for crying in front of people—except maybe Master Splinter." Don said as he adjusted his leg.

"It used to be that he would storm off pretending to be mad so that we would leave him alone for a while so he could cry." Mikey held out his arms for Pearl. She sat by him and snuggled into his shell. "It wasn't until I walked in on him crying that I figured it out."

"I'm surprised that you left though, Pearl." Raph was staring out of the window at the forest.

"I figured that since you all left with pathetic excuses, I should too." Pearl muttered, she was almost asleep. "She's gonna be fine...right.....?" Pearl's voice trailed off as she fell asleep.

"She's gonna be wonderful." Mikey whispered as he kissed the top of her head. He changed into a human so that Pearl would be more comfortable.

"You guys hungry?" Raph asked.

"No, why?" Don turned down the volume from the TV so that it wasn't more than a murmur in the background.

"Because it's almost noon." Mikey whispered.

"I'm proud of ya Mikey, ya didn't even have ta look at a clock." Raph smacked the back of his head then headed down the stairs.

"He doesn't have to be so mean all the time." Don started flipping through channels.

"Mmm..." Cerina stirred and woke up Leo. He looked at the time—it was five o'clock—and moved to sit on the edge of the bed. His muscles were stiff from sleeping hunched over like he was, but that didn't matter. She was waking up.

"Cerina, honey?" Leo caressed her face with his free hand.

She groaned and held her breath for a moment before she groaned again.

"Cerina..." Leo rested his hand at the nape of her neck.

"...No..." she muttered as her face clouded.

"Cerina?"

"...Stop it....let go of me...." She cringed away from something. "Please...no..." her voice was getting stronger. She started to thrash.

"Cerina, c'mon and wake up honey." Leo caressed her face again.

"NO!" she screamed as she sat bolt right up in the bed. "NO!!" She pushed against Leo trying to get away from him.

"Cerina, it's me, Leo. Please, open your eyes." he kept one hand on her face and he slipped the other around her back in case she lost the precious little strength she had.

"STOP!!" she yelled again. The bedroom door opened and soon everyone was standing the doorway, trying to see what was going on and if they could help somehow.

"Cerina....c'mon honey, it's just a dream. Open your eyes. You know I won't hurt you." Leo continued to soothe Cerina in his calm, even voice.

"Please..." She pushed against him again and turned her head away. "...don't..." Her voice trailed off again as she seemed to slip into a better dream. Leo laid her back down and sighed. He looked up to his family in the door. Splinter was just about to say something when Cerina sat up, her eyes scrunched shut, and called out again.

"LEONARDO!!!" This cry chilled all of them. It was full of fear, pleading, and longing all at once.

"I'm here." he put his arms around her again.

"Leonardo..." she said again, quieter this time. She was still asleep. "Please....help me..." she whispered.

"Cerina, I'm here. Open your eyes. You'll find me." He whispered. Her eyes fluttered open.

"Leo..nar..do..?" she reached up and touched his face.

"I'm here, you don't have to be scared anymore." After a moment, tears burst from her eyes and she threw her arms around his neck. He just held her closer. Everyone at the door just quietly backed out and shut the door. "Shh..." He rubbed her back and tried to sooth her.

"I was so scared..." Cerina whispered through her sobs.

"Do you want to tell me?"

"I...I killed someone." Cerina squeezed Leo tighter. "A lot of someones. I've never done that before."

"Oh babe, it'll be alright. I...I've killed people too." he rubbed her arms.

"Really?" Cerina pushed away from Leo to look in his eyes.

"Yeah. I didn't like it either, but there was no other choice. It was either me and my brothers, or the bad guys. I had to choose between them, and I chose my family." Leo cradled her face in his hand again.

"Where you horrified after?"

"For days. Ask my family. I was useless for a long time. I wouldn't eat or sleep. All I did was train and meditate, but that didn't help anything either. It just reminded me of what happened."

"Does it ever go away?" Cerina looked down at her lap.

"The memories?"

She nodded, her head felt heavy.

"Eventually. I found it easier to focus on what I had saved, rather than what I had lost."

She nodded again, behind her ear was pounding.

"Cerina, tell me what you saved by killing these men."

"Besides my own life?" She wiped away a few tears and winced when she brushed the gash on her cheek.

"Uh-huh."

She was quiet for a long time before she shrugged, and promptly winced. "I don't know."

"Let me help." Leo's voice was strong and confidant. Cerina felt better just by listening to him talk. "You gave Pearl back her only family—besides us turtles." Cerina half laughed and half sobbed. "You've saved my sanity from the brink of extinction. Plus you up-held Don's honor and resolved what ever business Artanis left unfinished."

"His business!" Cerina gasped and grabbed a handful of his shirt, "Leonardo, it was horrible!" her eyes widened at the memory of what she had learned. "He was an assassin! He wanted me to take over his business when he died, and—and" tears started to come to her eyes again.

"What? You can tell me." Leo used the edge of his sleeve to wipe a tear from her cheek.

"Well, I figured this first part out a while ago, but Artanis killed my father. What I didn't know was that he also arranged it for my mother to be killed too." She couldn't hold back the tears and the more she cried, the more her injuries hurt her and that made her cry even more. Leo just held her and tried to offer her some comfort, though no more was said that day and he stayed with her long after she had cried herself to sleep. Once he was sure she wasn't going to wake up for a while, he left the room for a moment.

Everyone was upstairs. Pearl and Mikey were sitting on the roof just beside one of the windows, Splinter was meditating, while Donny and Raph were half-heartedly watching a movie. Leo crossed straight to the open window and leaned out. He held out a hand when Pearl started to speak. "She's fine. She's been asleep for a long time now."

"Is she in a lot of pain?" Pearl asked, worry clear on her face and in her voice.

"Some, but that's to be expected. Pearl, I must ask you a question."

"Alright..." Pearl suddenly sounded suspicious.

"It's about Artanis. Do you know what he did in his business?"

"Well...no. He never told us about it. Only that one day he hoped to have Cerina's help in it. Why?"

"And about your mother, how did she die?"

"In a car accident."

"Your father?"

"They said it was suicide, but it looked like he was murdered. Why are you asking these questions?"

"Cerina gave me some rather disturbing news." Leo glanced over his shoulder to find that everyone had gathered around him, except Donny who was still sitting on the couch, but had turned around. "Come inside and sit down." Leo stepped back for Mikey to climb through. He helped Pearl off the windowsill and over to the couch before he continued explaining. "Cerina found out who those men were. They were clients of Artanis and that his business was less then honorable. Much less."

"Did he run a whore house?" Mikey asked and was rewarded by getting hit by Raph.

"No, he was an assassin."

"What?" Pearl whispered, her face drained of color.

"Apparently, Artanis murdered your father and—for whatever reasons—wanted to kill your mother also. He arranged for another car to run into your mother's in that intersection. Got two targets in one foul deed."

"He wouldn't!"

"He did and those men came to get Cerina to take over Artanis' business!" Leo shifted uncomfortably. During the last half hour or so before Cerina fell asleep, she had told him everything Romero said and did to her. If she hadn't have killed them all, he decided that he would have hunted them down and committed the action himself.

"I can't believe it..." Pearl hung her head and covered her face with her hands. Mikey put his arms around her. "Cerina must have been shattered to find out. She had just come to respect him and even to love him...now this? What must have been going through her head when he told her?"

"Well, I'd better get back to her. She'll get hysterical if she wakes up and someone's not there." Leo began walking away when Pearl caught his arm.

"I'll go. I want to be with her."

"Alright, but if you need me, just yell." Leo squeezed her shoulder before returning to sit with his brothers.

"Mmm." Pearl hurried down the stairs and into her room. She carefully sat on the bed next to her sister. "You dope." She whispered. "You are always getting hurt to protect me. Foot ninja, Purple Dragons, Artanis, strange men...and the list goes on." Cerina groaned and shifted a little, "One of these days you're gonna get yourself killed. You should have at least taken Leo with you. Then maybe things wouldn't have been so bad." Pearl took a handful of Cerina's black hair and began to braid it.

"At least you didn't get hurt. That was all I was hoping for." Cerina whispered as her eyes fluttered opened.

"Did I wake you?" Pearl asked, suddenly worried.

"No, I woke up just before Leonardo left. I figured that he needed some time to explain things to you." Cerina's voice was still rough and harsh from the yelling.

"How are you feeling?"

"Better now that I've slept some. I thought I'd have nightmares, but surprisingly I didn't."

"It must have been because Leo was with you."

"That could have been it." Cerina sat up with a grimace, "Boy, I need a shower!" she tried to laugh.

"I don't know if that's a good idea Cerina..." Pearl hesitated.

"It would clean some of the forest off of me, and it would give me a chance to relax my muscles. They're so tense and sore, I'm surprised I'm not shaking." She actually managed a smile. "I could also do with a change of clothes..." Cerina looked down at the dirty and torn clothes she was wearing.

"Well, only if you let me help you."

"That's a pleasant thought." Cerina laced her voice with sarcasm.

"It's the only way you'll get a bath or shower. Unless, of course, you can get Leo to help you."

"Would he?" Cerina pretended to be very eager.

"No."

"Crap..." Cerina swung her legs over the edge of the bed. "Help me stand up. I don't want to fall over again."

"Right." Pearl slid off the bed and helped her sister stand up. "I guess this is pay back for all the times I was sick and you had to help me, huh?"

"Damn right it is." Cerina managed a chuckle.

"Hang on," Pearl said when they reached the bedroom door. "LEO!" she yelled.

"What?" Leo said as he came running down the stairs.

"Don't worry, nothing's happened. She just wants a bath. I figured I'd better tell you so you don't come into our room and freak out because we're not there." Pearl quickly explained. Leo had had quite the worried look on his face when he saw Cerina standing.

"Alright, but don't lock the door."

"Why? Do you plan on joining me?" Cerina teased.

"N-no." Leo blushed, "It's just in case you pass out again and Pearl can't get you out, or you slip and fall and break a leg or your neck, or you black out and drowned, or something like that."

"I'm so glad that I have your vote of confidence." Cerina smiled. Leo had been so kind to her; letting her cry and blabber about all sorts of things, calming her down when she started to have bad dreams, taking care of her wounds. She didn't know how she could ever repay his kindness.

"C'mon, before I drop you on purpose." Pearl steered Cerina past Splinter's bedroom and into the bathroom.

"You want to know something I've never understood?" Cerina asked after Pearl closed the bathroom door.

"Tell me." Pearl sat Cerina down on lid of the toilet.

"I don't understand why that whole wall facing the ocean is glass. What if there was a boat of pirates just off of shore and they had one of those cool looking glasses. They could see right in and watch you take a shower or bath." Cerina said this with a completely straight face.

"Cerina, you did get enough sleep right?" Pearl asked as she began to fill the Jacuzzi with luke-warm water.

"Leo gave me a shot of morphine." Cerina pulled off her shirt. "Do I need to take these bandages off too?"

"Yeah, then Leo can put fresh on after we've cleaned you up." Pearl got a towel ready and pulled the shampoo and conditioner out from a cupboard under the sink.

"'K." Cerina gritted her teeth and pulled off the large patch of gauze from her stomach wound. She wadded it up, dropped it on the counter, and began to pull off the ones from her arms.

"C'mon. You'll need to take your pants off too." Pearl rolled her eyes. She would find a way to make Cerina pay for this embarrassment. No one wanted to see their sister naked—in a bikini or something like that was fine. Pearl didn't have a problem with that.

"I can't stand up without your arm." Cerina giggled. The morphine was starting to take effect and Cerina was always giggly and loopy at first when she had morphine, but after a while it knocked her out and she had no energy.

"Fine, come on then." Pearl helped Cerina stand up. "Are you sure you're alright? You looked like you were in so much pain at first."

"I'm fine. It hurt then, that's a no brainer, but the medicine is working now and I feel much better." Cerina stepped carefully into the Jacuzzi and hissed when the water stung the cuts on her legs.

"Let's get you cleaned up then." Pearl sighed and proceeded to help Cerina get clean. She was scrubbed her hair—being careful of the lump behind her ear—and carefully cleaned each wound. After several minutes Cerina was all clean. "There you are. Do you want to get out now, or sit there for a while?"

"Can I sit?" Cerina was starting to get sleepy again.

"Sure, you stay there. I'm just going to change out this water. It's muddy and full of blood." Pearl drained the water and refilled it with warm water.

"Mmm....thank you Pearl..." Cerina laid her head back against the back of the Jacuzzi.

"Don't you fall asleep on me!" Pearl gently tugged on a lock of Cerina's hair. "I'll have a hard enough time getting you out of here as it is."

"That's nice..." Cerina started to drift off.

"If you fall asleep, I'll tell Leo that I need help getting you out of the tub. He'll see you naked."

"You wouldn't!" Cerina squealed.

"I would!" Pearl threatened.

"Fine, I'm awake. Not that I would mind the punishment..." She muttered.

"Cerina!"

"I'm just saying that he'd be too embarrassed! It's not me I'm worried about."

"Whatever. Look, the sun is coming up. I guess that's why this whole wall is glass. Do you see how pretty it is Sissy?" Pearl smiled as she remembered watching the sunrise with Mikey. Raph was there too, but to Pearl, Mikey was all that mattered besides Cerina.

"I see it. It's beautiful." Cerina smiled softly, despite the pain in her cheek, and found that she couldn't stop smiling. She reached up and held Pearl's hand. "Thank you Sissy, for all your help. I know I'm a pain and sometimes you don't think I'm worth it, but thank you none-the-less."

"Don't talk like that. Of course you're worth it. Every pain-in-the-butt moment." Pearl said and they both laughed and laughed. Cerina didn't care that she was in pain, or that her gut and head ached. She didn't care—at the moment—that she had killed tons of men she didn't know. She did care that she was alive, with her sister, and in love with a wonderful man/turtle.


End file.
